A Kind of Emotional Tether
by HydenLynch
Summary: They're not just gonna be meddling kids forever. One day they're gonna have to be meddling adults. Either that or the world is going to make them, and it'll be way too fast. Too fast for Daph to figure out which eyes she wants to gaze into for the rest of her life. Crystal blue, or soothing brown? Cover by the Tumblr bemmiecake.
1. Chapter 1

_**Part One**_

" _ **It's not just someone to hold you under, it has to be someone who can pull you back."**_

Her hair had been perfect, it had taken hours for her to make it look windblown but in a sexy kind of way. She had redone her make-up four times to achieve the perfect mix of "I look like a million bucks!" and, "That hot chick you'd see at a Costco." Resulting in a perfectly neutral yet captivating look. $200 had fallen out of her wallet so she could buy the regal, backless, deep purple dress. This dress was perfect, the closest thing to her dream coming true. Another $100 for the silver four inchers that matched her earrings.

She had stared at herself in the mirror for maybe five minutes.

" _This time Daph."_ She said softly, _"This time I'm gonna get this prom thing right."_

It was safe to say her first prom was a disaster. She had to tackle Fred to the ground and beg him to go with her, and after pouring her feelings out somehow they settled on going as "Buds ™." But at least she got her dance with him.

Well, half a dance. It was interrupted by someone that Fred could grasp being attracted to. And she was also dressed like a great aunt from Hell.

Just like that, Fred's eyes were off Daphne for the rest of the night. Whether she was kidnapping guys and throwing them in her rape dungeon or not, she had Fred's complete and uninterrupted attention.

But that was not going to happen this year.

Daphne was going to have her moment, she would get her dance with Fred and make her move. It was finally going to be the start of their perfect love story.

The mayor had sent two police squad cars to watch out for anything suspicious and protect the dance from it. Not wanting a repeat of the junior prom/Alice May debacle of last year.

While this was met with joy from Shaggy and Daphne, Velma had snorted and said, _"Thank goodness our greatest allies are gonna be there to do nothing and get mad at us when we do all the work."_ Daphne glared at her and Shaggy said, _"Don't you dare joke like that Velms! This is going to be a night of dancing, dates, and delicious snack tables. And absolutely no ghouls, zombies, werewolves, robotic werewolves, and vampires that look more like demons from hell than anything from Daph's weird books!"_

Daphne had prayed to every god she could think of to help prevent any experts in special effects, puppetry, illusions, and advanced robotics didn't get pissed off within the 72 hours before the dance. And she was almost considering being religious because here they were, walking into the gym that was decorated in and a 1940′s theme. No monsters in sight.

She was finally getting her moment with Fred, his arms were wrapped around her waist and his hands felt just perfect there.

And then a giant fucking bunny rabbit that spit acid just had to fall from the disco ball and send everyone into a panic. Daphne didn't even need to look up at him to know that his eyes were sparkling and he was formulating a plan in his big, dumb, gorgeous, trap obsessed head. Once Shaggy let out a nervous chuckle she knew that her night of ineffable romance was over.

Precisely two hours and 15 minutes later they had caught The Buck Toothed Terror, which was a damn freshman who was mad that a senior hadn't asked her out. Somehow Daph could relate.

Blah blah blah, robotics club member, blah blah blah, giant exoskeleton. _"And I would have gotten away with it too if it weren't for you meddling upperclassmen!"_

Daphne had heard it all before.

Regardless of that total waste of time it was still only 9:15 and the dance ended at midnight. She still had her chance to revive the dying dream.

She scanned the gym looking for her target, the dance floor was now filling up with re-relaxed students. She spotted him on the other side of the floor adjusting his ascot, which didn't match his tux at all but she didn't care because he had to be the one.

She lit up as she spotted him and prepped herself to make her way over to him. She smoothed her dress which had become wrinkled from the several times they had been chased a giant, robotic bunny. It wasn't back to it's perfect crisp appearance, but she doubted Fred would even notice, as usual. Then she remembered that she had sent a roundhouse kick, with perfect form if she did say so herself, at the bunny and had broken the heel off her shoe as a result.

$100 down the drain.

Whatever, you could barely see the shoes at the bottom of the dress, if she walked on her toes it would look the same.

Ignoring the fact that her hair was popping up in every direction, and being jealous of Velma's bounce back bob, she began to make her way over to him.

But was then stopped in her tracks when she saw the whole picture. Fred was surrounded by peers, most notably hot seniors. Now technically Daphne was in the category of hot senior, but she was also an outcast amongst the popular crowd.

She always had the chance to join the popular crowd. Everyone in the school knew she would be a hit. But at the start of every year Daph found herself only giving the popular kids friendly nods and then she'd dash over to the table where Fred, Shaggy, Scooby, and Velma were sitting. And just like that she would be pushed into the rag-tag group of weirdos, same as every year. But she didn't mind, these were her best friends and unlike everything else in her life they made her happy.

The popular kids seemed to understand this and left her be, left the whole group alone really. The most they ever did was try and convince Fred to ask her out once, which failed of course. But it showed Daph how genuinely nice these girls were.

And currently two of them were putting their hands on his huge shoulders and drooling at every word he said.

He must have been telling the brave tale of how he saved their senior prom, of course adding in that it was a team effort. Because he wasn't full of himself like other guys she'd met. He cared about equal credit and everyone's happiness, unlike other guys she'd met.

She felt herself tearing up.

" _No Daph this is a dumb reason. It's not like he had to spend prom with me."_

She had stared at him for another two minutes or so, hoping he'd look over at her and remember they were dancing earlier.

But he didn't look over at her, instead the football players had dragged him off to their man huddle, and that was that.

She had no idea why she didn't just walk over to him and ask him to pick up where they left off. Maybe she was too shy or nervous or scared, who cares it was too late.

She waddled over to the nearest empty tables and sat down, since Fred had been her ride she wasn't able to just leave. So she chose to wallow and pout.

She felt her jaw drop when Fred escorted one of the hot seniors onto the dance floor. It took her like five minutes to get him to ask while it took Daph two months of planning to ensure she'd be the first girl he'd ask.

Her eyes began to tear up again, seeing how happy and natural he looked while he danced with someone they barely knew, and she didn't care enough to hide her tears.

Until out of nowhere Shaggy had pulled out the chair next to her and sat down with a plop.

She quickly wiped her eyes and leaned forward so he couldn't see her face. And while attempting to sound okay said, _"How's it going Shags?"_

He rubbed the back of his neck, _"Like, not great. Since Freddie had to commandeer all the precious food for the trap I've got nothing to do."_ He leaned back in the chair and sighed. Daph looked around and smiled while saying, _"Well where's Scooby, I'm sure you and him could get into some sort of trouble."_ She smirked and clasped her hands in her lap.

" _Daph, do you really think Velma would let him stay at prom after what happened last year. Like man, she didn't waste any time turning on the demon eyes."_ He motioned towards the other side of the room where Velma was surrounded by guys from all walks of life. Somehow, this year Velms had become one of the hottest chicks in our class, getting date requests every other day.

Daphne wasn't really jealous of her since she had her eye on only one guy, and it was way too funny watching Velma's reactions to all the attention.

" _But you and Velma aren't even together anymore are you?"_ She gave him a suspicious look but he quickly shook his head, _"God no. I-uh, I guess she just doesn't want Scoob ruining her last prom."_ She smiled and sighed, _"Honestly I would prefer if Scooby were here, then maybe it'd be a little fun."_

He stared at her for a second, maybe trying to unpack the meaning of what she said, and then he nodded.

He looked from Velma back to Daph, and they kinda just sat in silence for a little bit, just looking at each other.

That was one of the nice things about Shaggy, they didn't need to say much of anything. Sometimes they could go on and on about how nice V-necks were, and other times they could just be quiet and accept each other's company. At certain times Daph could use that comforting quiet that only Shaggy could handle.

It had taken a few minutes but Daphne looked down and realized that his hands were shaking, subtly but still noticeable.

She remembered that once again they had appointed Shaggy and Scooby as the bait in the formula. Daphne believed that it was because they were the fastest, but she couldn't speak for Fred and Velma.

After everything was all wrapped up Shags was pretty good at looking like he was over his life being put in jeopardy. But Daphne eventually noticed that his hands didn't stop shaking until the next day. That was when she considered that maybe he deserved a break. Her beliefs were confirmed when a doctor basically diagnosed him with post-traumatic stress.

Of course that didn't last long and he was back to being shoved into danger at every turn.

The main thing that had changed was that Daph now worried about him every time he became bait.

So of course he was still shaken up only half an hour after being chased to the death by an acid spitting rabbit that was 5x it's original size.

She could tell he was trying to calm down since he took deep breaths every few minutes, it didn't stop his hands from shaking and she hated it. She took a deep breath as she grabbed his hands. He jumped at the sudden contact and Daph giggled, _"Hey,"_ she said softly, he looked back at her, _"Are you sure you're okay."_

He stared at her with his eyebrows raised and said, _"No Daph I am not okay, I almost got my tux melted off by a fucking bunny. And now I don't even have any food or alcohol to drown my sorrows in!"_

She giggled again, _"I have cappuccino flavored gum, it's from my mom's therapist."_

" _Which one?"_ Daph stared at him for a second, _"Her-um-speech-no- it's her anger management dude. Jackery?"_

Shag chuckled, _"Like, is Jackery even a real name?" She smirked, "Is Shaggy? Or Norville for that matter?"_ He winced, _"Daph don't even start that."_

She found them both chuckling, he seemed a lot calmer now that she had asked. Then she remembered that she was still holding onto his hands and he was gently holding back.

She quickly let go and put them back in her lap, looking around and hoping nobody saw them. More specifically, that Fred hadn't seen. She peeked over Shag's shoulder and felt her heart drop, several songs had passed and he was still out on the dance floor with the hot senior. He was still laughing and holding onto her tightly, something she had to beg to do with him.

Shag wondered what she had been staring at and looked over his shoulder. He then let out a sigh as he realized why party animal Daphne was bored at a school dance.

He looked back and saw her discouraged eyes filling with tears.

The hair on the back of his neck raised, he could handle his dog being over dramatic and Velma's demonic tantrums and Fred throwing him into danger every other week. But he had no idea what to do when Daphne cried.

Whenever she cried she did it like a Disney princess, usually sprawled out on a bed with her hair all spread out and her face buried in the covers. When Daph cried everyone was going to know about it, and everyone just let a combo of Fred complimenting her and Scooby offering her his favorite toys. Eventually that would calm her down and she would explain while Velma rolled her eyes and Shaggy gave her apologetic looks.

But this crying wasn't the typical, charming Daphne crying.

This was purposely silenced crying, the kind where you wanted nobody to notice.

He sighed and she realized that he was looking at her, she turned away and wiped her eyes. _"What a day to not wear my waterproof mascara."_ She forced a chuckle. Shag only needed to look at her helplessly trying to fix her eyes for a couple seconds before he gulped and took a deep breath.

" _Like, Daph?"_ He sounded a lot more croaked than intended, which didn't help his confidence.

She looked away from the napkin she had used to clean the lines of her eyeliner and back to him. The second her purple eyes met his brown ones he became like 10 million times more nervous and his heartbeat probably spiked. Daph could say the same thing since she had no clue what he was gonna ask her.

" _Yes Norville?"_ She sent him a smirk.

" _Don't even Daph I mean it."_ She giggled as she let out a few sniffles.

He took a deep breath and looked out at the dance floor, _"Do you-uh like, do you wanna dance?"_ It took him a lot longer to get that out, so he sounded like a sloth. Daphne stared at him for a second, her eyes wide while she processed what he said. She only ever danced with Fred.

At every dance she'd been to, homecoming, winter ball, spring formal, hoedowns, and of course the junior prom.

It's was just a natural position she assumed.

She knew that just friends could dance, that's more likely than dancing with a date. But somehow dancing with Shaggy felt like something in between. She had never danced with anyone else.

She must've been silent a long time because Shag added, _"We're stuck here for, like, another four hours so we might as well do what society expects us to."_ She smiled and sent a glance over toward Fred, another song had passed and he was still on the floor smiling with the hot senior.

" _The dance floor is super crowded. Like, I doubt Fred would see you, i-if you're worried about that."_

She stared at him for another second and came to a conclusion. Tonight, she did not care what Fred saw or didn't see. She had made this whole night about him and that was the same thing that ruined last year. For once this night was just about Daph, and Daph could do what she wanted.

So she ripped her gaze away from Fred, who could do whatever (and whoever) he wanted tonight, and gave Shaggy a smile.

She nodded quickly and they both stood up.

That was when she remembered that one of her shoes was broken.

She lifted her skirt, her foot was being forced into a contorted position, _"Damn it."_ Shag whistled and said, _"Like, now that is a terrible shoe design. Don't no heel high heels conflict each other?"_ Daph rolled her eyes, _"I didn't spend $100 on a pair of gravity defying heels, I-I…I broke one of them when I kicked that stupid bunny."_

" _Sounds like something you'd do."_ She was about to point out that it had saved Velma's hide but when she looked up she saw Shaggy kicking off his shoes.

" _W-What are you doing Shag?"_ She crossed her arms and hoped no one noticed. He rubbed the back of his neck and said sheepishly, _"You need to take your shoes off now that I don't have any on."_ Daph raised an eyebrow at him, she absolutely hated getting her feet dirty and he knew that, it just wasn't right at all.

One time they were chasing after a swamp creature while surrounded with mud pits and Daph had been in a catatonic state for about an hour, even after her feet had been cleaned.

She would rather fight through the pain of these useless shoes then get some sort of bacteria through her feet.

But then she saw his hands, still shaking, and the random deep breaths every few seconds. It only took her a second before she groaned and kicked her shoes off, effectively shrinking her and reminding her that Shaggy was roughly 6′0. She ignored how gross her feet felt and grabbed one of his shaking hands.

She started to drag him toward the middle of the dance floor, where it was the most crowded. Still hoping nobody would notice.

Although that might be asking too much since they were both shoeless and she was Daphne Blake.

Once they reached the center they both stood in front of one another, being quiet while a wall of other people swayed to the music around them. _"Like, I uh….."_

Daph nodded and said, _"I don't know how to do this either."_ His eyes darted around the room before they landed on her again.

She really liked the way he looked at her, no strings attached, no expectations, and no stupid clueless gaze. It just felt like he was looking at just her, Daphne.

She took a step forward so there were only a few inches between them and she placed her hands on his shoulders, _"We'll figure it out."_ She smiled and he returned it as he rested his hands on either side of her. His fingers brushed the skin of her back for a couple seconds sending chills up her whole body. They slowly swayed to the music, not saying anything. Their comfortable silence returning. She just smiled and stared at him and he returned the favor.

Even dancing with him felt relaxed, and right.

She felt perfect, finally she believed this is what she deserved to have at prom.

And then her eyes drifted over to Fred, who was only a few feet away from them, and his eyes were on her. And instantly she was filled with regret and guilt, she was ruining everything! The more Fred stared at her the more the gentle swaying felt like the rocking of a ship in a storm.

She had felt perfect and happy with herself a few seconds ago but she just had to think about her weakness, and then meet eyes with said weakness.

With that she looked away, and to keep herself from looking at him again she slid her hand down Shag's arm and pulled herself into a hug. Hiding her face, and blocking her gaze, in his chest.

She could hear his breathing stifle, but he didn't move.

Instead he leaned down and rested his head on her shoulder, the random deeps breaths seemed to diminish.

And it was replaced by a warm feeling in Daph's chest, which she prayed meant anything but the first thing that came to her mind.


	2. Chapter 2

_**Part Two**_

" _ **Someone that has a strong connection to you. A kind of emotional tether."**_

When an average day for you is being tormented by some sort of terrifying creature that has the habit of chasing you with the (assumed) intent to harm; you tend to get jumpy.

Even if the terrifying creature always ends up being made of some sort of silicon that hide the face of a loser who had nothing better to do than mope.

After the gang had solved their first legitimately dangerous case together Daph couldn't sleep a wink. Same with the second and the third and the fourth.

The constant chases, grotesque creatures popping out of the darkness of some sort of abandoned building. Her somehow always being the first to get grabbed.

It became way too much way too fast.

Day after day she realized how selfish people can be, how quickly these people became convinced dressing up in a costume and hurting people was their only option.

How could she trust anyone that was outside of the van with the funky paint job?

She had no idea how Fred could look so many people in the eye and trust them, she admired how his faith in humanity hadn't collapsed after seeing how evil it could be. She believed that was one of the reasons why she loved him, his ability to trust people.

It had taken a while, but she was able to believe in people again. She wasn't totally sure how she had done it, forcing herself to trust in people wasn't exactly the easiest thing.

It wasn't waves of therapists her parents threw at her.

It wasn't listening to thunderstorms and drinking coconut water.

It wasn't even stress eating that helped.

She figured if it worked for Shaggy then it could work for anyone.

But then she remembered Shaggy wasn't "anyone," he was far from being anyone.

He didn't care what others thought about him, he wasn't afraid to admit his flaws and his issues. He was a coward and proud of it. If he had a problem with something he would lay it all out on the table.

That was something Daph couldn't imagine doing. Her stress was always layed out in a hinting manner, one that nobody bothered to pick up on. So instead she'd scream into a pillow for a few seconds until she felt like she could smile at normal people again.

Of course that was replaced later on by her new belief that people could be inherently good. That definitely made her happier.

The chases, the grotesque creatures, getting captured. It all was now met with her undefeated optimism. That was also added to the fact that they had all gotten a lot better at what they do, so the chance of something going wrong was at an all time low.

It felt nice to be able to outsmart people who deserved to be reminded how stupid they were.

But that didn't mean there weren't smart bad guys out there. Smart bad guys they were bound to run into eventually. And eventually those bad guys would outsmart the mystery solvers.

"I keep running through the plan over and over in my head a-and there shouldn't be any faults to it." Fred was pacing back and forth while he rubbed his forehead, maybe trying to get his brain to turn back on. Maybe trying to pull it out of the state of panic it was in.

"Freddie, thi-this isn't your fault. That guy got the best of us, right Scooby?" Daphne was sitting on the back of the Mystery Machine, her hands clenched tightly in her lap. Scoob didn't move from where he was laying and nobody had been able to coax him out to talk or move or…..anything.

Velma had remained silent in the front seat, pretending to be busy looking for the keys to the front door to Daph's vacation house in the glove compartment.

But Daphne knew she was distracted, since she had pulled out the right key three times then put it back in the compartment.

The gang was trapped in an unsettling, uncomfortable silence.

That silence continued until Velms said, "I found them…." Nobody responded, they all just got up and headed towards the fluorescent purple house.

A few minutes later they were all sitting in the safest room in the house, the sauna.

Daph was leaning against the door frame as everyone else took a bench, Scooby still shoving himself into a corner. Fred had let out a sigh before turning to Velma, "Okay let's lay out our situation, figure out our next step."

Velms nodded slowly before looking down at her lap.

"Right, so exactly two weeks and four days ago Eli McElroy the famous chemist was perfecting his formula which he believed would be capable of turning common geological objects into gold." She paused and fidgeted, "He…..He was then found dead with the formula gone as well as his eyes."

Daph hugged herself, inhaling loudly through her nose. Listening to it now, it was stupidly clear they had been over their heads from the very beginning.

Fred then stepped in and continued, "We were able to look at the security footage and it showed a masked figure leaving the lab….which matches up with McElroy's time of death."

"We deduced that the um….the victims eyes were taken as well for some sort of retinal scan." Velms took off her glasses and began to wipe them with her sweater with a vigorous force, "But when we inquired about that the security guard said there were up to ten different areas in the lab that required a retinal scan, McElroy having access to all of them."

Daph jumped in, "We had interrogated all of the staff and there was no single motive or suspect provided." The more they unpacked the events, the stupider they began to sound.

Fred nodded, "Then Shags made the observation that we shouldn't figure out who the culprit is but where the culprit is trying to get to."

Everyone fell silent again. They should have just told that to the police.

"And so," Velma finally broke the silence, "After looking into McElroy's research I made the deduction that he had created a new element that when mixed with certain types of limestone could convert it into a sort of metal. Most likely copper."

That information alone could bring in millions of dollars. And it was now in the hands of a bunch of kids. It would probably get them killed if things went wrong.

Daph shifted her weight from one foot to the other, not wanting to continue. But Velma still opened her mouth, "Anyway we found out through one of the other scientists that the element was being held in a cooler in Sector 7, one that requires a retinal scan."

She put her glasses back on and took a deep breath.

Before she could say anything Fred said it for her, "And so we did what we always do, had Shag and Scooby wait as the bait and eventually lead the culprit towards the rest of us."

"And that was the stupidest thing we had ever done Fred!" Daph snapped at him, her hands falling to her sides as her voice quivered.

Fred and Velma looked at her in shock, she had been totally calm and optimistic on the ride here.

"I…..I know Daph-I just-"

"Fred this guy killed somebody and cut out their eyes out, this is absolutely nothing like the other times." He avoided her eyes since they were now narrow and totally cold, "Those guys were committing delightful pranks compared to this psychopath!"

Velma stood up, "Daphne, cool it we're not gonna get Shaggy back if we start getting mad at each other."

Daph scoffed, she felt a lump forming in her throat, "We would still have him if we had just called the damn police and not taken this matter into our own stupid hands!"

She knew they always took Shag for granted because he was always the first one to suggest getting professionals involved, and she used to just brush him off too.

But now it was different, he could be in serious danger.

Like the life-threatening kind. His eyeballs could be getting scooped out of his head at this very moment. And it was just killing her to think about that.

Her lower lip was trembling, "I think we should get one thing clear right now." She took a deep breath, knowing she'd burst into tears if she didn't stand her ground, "We do not ever, _**ever**_ ,put each other's lives in jeopardy. We've been doing that for years with Shaggy and Scooby and we didn't even bat a fucking eyelash!"

Fred and Velma looked at one another and then at their feet.

"We're best friends and I actually do care whether we make it through this life together! Alive and well!"

For the first time in the five hours Shaggy had been taken, Scooby actually turned around and looked at her. His eyes were tired and he actually looked like a dog for once.

Daphne didn't know if he was sending gratitude or comfort because she found that she was way more upset about Shag being kidnapped than she previously thought.

She was about to ridicule her friends further but found that she couldn't say anything without breaking out in horrible sobs.

Normally when Daph cried she had no problem sharing that experience with everyone she knew. But the idea of her crying right now made her feel like she was giving up on Shag, on the idea of saving him.

And that wasn't even and option.

So without saying anything else she left the sauna and trudged slowly towards the entry way to the house. Hoping nobody would follow her, she backed against the wall, letting herself lean against the purple striped wallpaper.

She took a few deep breaths but nothing was getting rid of the lump at the back of her throat.

The last time she had seen him, he was covering up his terror with chuckles and random puns. And she had just patted him on the back and told him he'd be fine. And then he gave her this smile that told her that her words meant something to him.

And the last she had heard from him was an ear piercing scream.

The last she had of him was the walkie talkie they had given to him. A whole lot of good it had done.

Every time she blinked she saw that smile, every time she held her breath she heard that scream, every time she moved she felt the walkie talkie in her back pocket.

But that was nowhere near as perfect as Shaggy being right there in front of her, nothing could compare to that.

She felt herself slide down the wall, but she wasn't totally sure since her eyes were stuck shut, hoping that she could keep the tears trapped inside. What if he was hurt? What if the culprit wasn't a hostage type of guy? Oh God, how did they know he wasn't already dead?

He couldn't be dead, he just couldn't.

Daph couldn't handle anything if he was gone, she needed him. He helped her where Fred and Velma couldn't.

He was the reason she searched for the good in people. Why she was still sane.

Hot tears streamed down her cheeks and she could do nothing to stop it, she just let it happen. There was no point in her bottling it all up, that was what had caused her distrust in people when she was younger.

She knew getting it all out now was Shaggy's best chance.

Daphne wasn't sure how long she had been crying but was quickly pulled out her misery when she heard footsteps.

She opened her eyes slowly and it was like she had been holding her breath the whole time. Her eyes felt wet and hot and stung as the air hit them. It took her a second to process all the bright purples and pinks and greens and grays.

After a couple seconds attempting to handle the waves of color she spotted Velma and her favorite orange turtleneck.

Her lips felt dry as she sternly said, "What is it?" She didn't mean to sound hostile but it just came out like that. Velma raised an eyebrow at her attitude but said nothing about it.

"I think Freddie and I have figured out where he is."

When she heard this Daphne stood up quickly, having to lean onto the wall after realizing her legs had turned to jelly.

"W-Who? Shaggy? Or uh-the the um…. the culprit?" It was taking her forever to gather her thoughts and she didn't even know what words were coming out of his mouth. She must have looked desperate to hear the answer because Velms walked over and placed her hand on Daphne's shoulder, "Both Daph."

"You see McElroy's colleague, Danny Sheppard, had been having a dry streak when it came to his projects and discoveries because the lab wasn't properly funding him." Velma pushed up her glasses as she walked by the police men and motioned toward the cuffed culprit

He gave her a scowl but said nothing, like the smart guy he was he wasn't going to admit to anything.

Fred jumped in and crossed his arms, "After some digging he found out that it was because his budget was being swapped for a much smaller amount. While his original budget was being given to McElroy and his experiments."

Velma sent him a smirk and Daphne continued, "That was enough to convince Sheppard to quit and find employment at another lab. But before he could quit he accidentally stumbled on confidential information which revealed McElroy's current project and top priority."

"A formula that turned certain types of limestone into gold." Velma had walked back next to Fred and was now leaning against the squad car, "His initial plan was to just steal the formula and claim it as his own discovery."

She looked over at Fred and he nodded, "But after he had killed McElroy and stolen the formula he had found that the formula required an element of McElroy's own creation held in a confidential location."

It was Daph's turn to jump in.

"And that was Sheppard's greatest mistake."

She saw him flinch at those words but still he said nothing.

"You see that was how we learned he was the culprit. Only McElroy and his lab assistant knew the location of the element. So there was no way that Sheppard would have been able to tip us off about where the criminal would be headed."

This case had unwound like every other except it eerily didn't end with "And I would have gotten away with it too etc. etc." But to be fair this guy was different from the other weirdos they had caught.

Daphne let out the long breath she had been holding in, they had caught him.

But then she remembered something and ran over to the squad car where the officers were about to shove him.

He looked over at her slowly, she could feel the hatred but knew he wouldn't risk threatening her. "Where did you put him?" The police raised an eyebrow at her statement, the fact that their was a hostage adds a lot to the case against him.

Clearly he knew this because he responded with feigned ignorance.

Daphne's brows furrowed and she grabbed the collar of his shirt, she wasn't afraid to punch his lights out, "Tell me what the hell you did to him!" Before she could put him in a proper choke hold Velma and Fred had dragged her back.

She kicked and struggled but she didn't wanna do anything to hurt either of them so she let them push her back.

Helplessly, she watched as Velms and Fred both tried to get information about where Shaggy was out of him, but he just wasn't budging.

Daph let out a huff and crossed her arms as she looked over at Scooby.

He gave this hopeless look and she returned it. They weren't getting anywhere, and since Fred and Velma weren't letting her beat the information out of him they had no clue where Shaggy is.

It then occurred to her that they hadn't even searched the whole house.

Without saying anything, she made her way through the open front door and started to look in any spot she could think to hide a 6′0 person.

The closets, the huge freezer in his back yard, the bathtubs, the attic. At this point she was even checking under the beds and there was still no sign of him, she could feel panic setting in but she chose to ignore it.

He's not dead, he's alive and well and in a few hours he'll be back to complaining about how hungry he is even though he just ate. She was beginning to get desperate, opening the kitchen cabinets even though she knew it didn't do any good.

She felt the tears returning.

He should be here. She should be able to find him. She should be able to save him!

She tripped on a rack of shoes by the front door and fell to her knees with a loud thud. Not bothering to get up she looked down at the floor, she could see her tears falling on the hard wood.

She had lost him she couldn't find him.

She had no idea what she was gonna do now. How was she ever gonna laugh again if she knew that she had let him fade away?

Her tears fell fast and she only got angrier with herself, with Fred for putting him in danger, with Velma for letting Fred go through with it. Any second now a group of cops as well as her friends would come in here and wonder why she had been tampering with potential evidence and see her crying like a baby.

Right when she decided she didn't even care anymore she spotted something out of the corner of her eye.

It was a doorknob just sticking out of the wall.

No clear reason why it was there but it was all Daphne had at this point.

Slowly, she got back to her feet and took a swift peek out the open front door. Fred and Velma hadn't seemed to notice her absence, neither did Sheppard or the police present. But Scooby seemed to send her a quick glance before pretending he hadn't seen her.

Not wasting any time, she dashed toward the doorknob. She wasn't sure exactly how to approach this so she started by turning it.

Locked. Of course it was.

She moved her hands and let her fingers find the edges of the door. She had no idea how she didn't find it before, now that she saw it clearly hidden in the wall.

There was no way she was gonna waste any time searching for a key when it was her last chance to find him. She flipped her hair behind her shoulders and took a step back. Taking a deep breath she quickly lifted her leg and sent a front facing kick into the door.

She watched as the door flew inwards, the lock still stuck in place.

Normally she would have been proud of how well that was executed but her heartbeat had picked up and she was already running down the flight of stairs behind the door.

Her hands ran along the wall for some sort of light switch.

But by the time she had reached the bottom of the stairs a string hit her in the face.

She ignored that fact that she had almost screamed because she thought it was a spiderweb for a demon spider from hell and pulled on the string with such force she was surprised it hadn't broken off.

The second the light came on her eyes found a pair of baggy brown pants and a matching pair of long legs to go with it.

He was still in one piece, he didn't even look that battered, there was just rope around his wrists. Slowly, he looked up at her, his eyes were tired and disoriented. Probably from being in a pitch black room for several hours.

"Daph? Like, I…I haven't finally gone crazy have I?"

She let out a combo of a giggle and a sob as she hopped into the basement and ran over to him.

Not sure whether to hug him or untie him, she found herself just staring at him. He was okay, he was alive and he was getting out of here.

"Oh please be in no hurry to save my life Daphne just tied up and dying." She giggled again and leaned forward to untie him. Once the ropes were off she saw his raw and red wrists and his shaking hands.

She grabbed them quickly and held onto them tight, afraid he would get snatched away again otherwise.

"Please never do that ever again."

"Do what? Get kidnapped by a damn eyeball scooper?" He tightened his grip on her hands, the shaking stopping.

She smiled at him, hearing footsteps above them signalling that Fred and Velma had found out she was in the house.

Neither of them did anything, they just sat there in blissful silence hand in hand until Scooby came flying out of nowhere and pushed all three of them into a hug.

She was so glad to hear that laugh again.


	3. Chapter 3

_Part Three_ _"You don't need them because you are too smart to waste your time with them."_

One of Norville's earliest memories was back in 1st grade when he was enrolled in what he liked to refer to as a school for the loaded beyond all belief. His parents must have figured that he needed to be with other kids that were cut from the same cloth as him.

He was only there a week and his teacher had already called his parents in to "express some concerns."

* * *

Mainly to discuss Norville's focus issues and how they should deal with that. It was in her professional opinion (as a 1st grade English teacher) that Norville had a form of ADHD and that they should schedule an appointment to get him diagnosed.

Although he had no idea what they were talking about, he still felt embarrassed about it.

Of course his parents made no comments, not to the teacher on his behalf or anything, not defending him even a little bit. They didn't even reassure him that hadn't done something wrong, which is the impression he was getting from everybody.

By the end of the hour he was feeling confused and worried that he had done something to disobey the teacher or his parents.

It didn't help when eventually his parents told him to go wait in the hallway and not move an inch. He was definitely in trouble that was for sure, but how was he supposed to be punished if he didn't even know what he did wrong. He stood outside of the door for a few minutes wondering what they were talking about.

Was something wrong with him?

Maybe he had a cold or something and had gotten all of the other kids sick.

In that case he could just promise them he'd never get sick ever again, that shouldn't be too hard.

"Hi!" A loud voice came from behind him and he responded with a hi pitched scream and squatted down, covering his head with his hands.

The voice sounded again, "Sorry, mommy tells me I'm too loud. But I don't know how to turn down my volume." Slowly, Norville turned around and was surprised to see one of the girls in his class.

He remembered her because she had a weird name like his.

She was always wearing really sparkly purple and pink dress to class and she would sometimes let the other girls in the class brush her short, fluffy, soft, red hair with the shiny hairbrush. She told everyone that it was "bejeweled," Norville had actually heard that word before. One time his mother had painted a portrait of him and then bejeweled the whole thing.

"Hey you're in my class! You're the really smart one!" He just blinked at her, not responding.

Smart?

"My name's Daphne but sometimes mommy calls me Baby because she likes to watch Dirty Dancing." She had come and squatted next to him, he still hadn't said anything back to her.

"I don't really like that movie though, I think the songs are so boring. One time I fell asleep and then when I woke up the whole house was dark and mommy had gone to bed and I was really scared." Her mouth seemed to be moving a mile a minute and her weird purple eyes sparkled with every word she said.

Norville didn't really know what to make of her.

So far he was gonna say he liked her.

"What's your name anyway?" He froze for a second before looking away from her and mumbling, "Norville." He felt his cheeks heat up, now she was gonna laugh and make fun of his weird name.

"That's a good name. Hey why's your hair so long?" He looked back over at her and saw her reach over and ruffle his hair.

"My mom doesn't trust hair cutters." Her eyes widened and she let out a gasp.

"Really!? Hair dresses are like my bestest friends. Besides our turtle, Moira. Oh and my grandmama's shaggy dog, Sinatra. And then there's mommy's pizza maker and then right after that is you."

He perked up, "I'm your best friend?"

She giggled and shook her head, "No you're my 5th best friend, but you're my only best friend that's a person. Hey you look a lot like my grandmama's dog!" His eyes widened.

"Really?! I look like a dog?" He felt very proud of himself.

She nodded quickly, "You even have the same haircut. Hey why're you here after school's done?" She ruffled his hair again and looked around for his parents.

"Are you lost little puppy?" He groaned, he just remembered he was in trouble.

Daphne gave him a look of concern and he felt bad for making her feel that way, "I think I'm gonna get grounded."

Her eyes widened again, "What did you do!?"

He looked back at the door in front of them, "I think had a weird cold and gave it to everyone in the class."

She smiled at him and put her hand on his shoulder.

"Shaggy that's the same reason I'm here too!" Those eyes seemed to always be set to stun. He looked at her sadly, "R-Really?" So they both got the whole class sick. She nodded quickly, "Mommy's yelling at the teachers for saying I had ADHD."

"Tha-That's what the teacher said I had! What does it mean?" Daphne smiled again and shrugged, "I don't know but mommy tells me I don't have it. She told me I'm just six years old and always hopped up on caffeine because she gives me her coffee."

He sighed, he didn't really know what any of that meant.

"I'm sure it's not a bad thing Shaggy, I don't think people get in trouble for being sick. Unless you barf on mommy's good rug, then you're not allowed in the blue room until you're 10."

She was still rambling on but he had stopped listening, if what Daphne said was true then he was gonna be just fine.

"Anyway I don't think you need to worry Shaggy and you're really smart so who cares if you are sick?" She patted him on the back a little harder than she needed to but he still sent her a smile.

After that they just sat in silence for a few minutes.

It wasn't a weird silence, they just chose not to say anything. And neither of them seemed to mind, they just sat and smiled at each other.

The quiet was eventually ended by someone screaming, "DAPHNE WE'RE LEAVING RIGHT NOW!" The both looked down the hallway to see a tall woman with long red hair.

Daphne stood up quickly and said, "That's my mommy I gotta go." She leaned down and gave him a hug, "I'll see you tomorrow." With that, she stood straight up and began to skip back toward the tall woman. But then stopped and turned back, then she smiled and yelled, "I'm gonna call you Shaggy from now on okay?!"

It didn't even take him a second to respond, "Okay!"

Her eyes sparkled again and she continued skipping down the hall where she joined her mom and they both turned the corner.

He stared at the end of the hallway for a bit, he liked Daphne. She thought he was smart and didn't make fun of his name. And she was really weird so he liked that.

Even though he was looking forward to playing with her tomorrow he didn't realize that he wouldn't see Daphne again until the first day of middle school 5 years later.

* * *

A gust of cold wind blew through the trees, causing a chill to run up everyone's spines.

"Uh, like, you're absolutely 100% no questions asked certain that the horrifying creature that beheads teenagers for fun is in those terrifying, dark and mysterious woods which have optimal hiding places in every nook and cranny?!" Shaggy was waving his hands out and gesturing towards "Lot's of Dead Kids Were Found Here Please Do Us a Favor and Not Ever Go In Here Forest."

Or "Kindling Forest" for short.

Velma rolled her eyes at his obvious distaste in their plan, "Shaggy, I am 200% certain this is where we'll find the Headless Beheader."

Daphne let out a little snort, ever since they had learned his name she couldn't keep a straight face when it was said. Which made Shaggy feel a little better because Daph's laugh was always entertaining.

He let out a nervous chuckle, "Like I was afraid you were gonna say that. Lemme guess, now you're gonna send Scoob and I into certain death where I will once again get a good ten years shaved off of my life span. And maybe even my head because we're chasing after the fucking Headless Beheader!"

Scooby nodded in agreement, his eyebrows furrowed.

Daph snorted again and none of the gang could resist smiling in response.

Fred looked over at Scooby then said, "Actually this time Scooby is with Velma and I." Shaggy's smile faded, "You're gonna pull Scoob _out_ of the life-threatening danger?" He ignored the smug look Scoob was sending him as he trotted over next to Freddie.

Velma responded, "Quite the opposite actually, Scooby has the criminal's scent so he, Fred and I are gonna go in the front and track him." Scooby's ears drooped and he started to whine, "Meanwhile Shaggy and Daphne will be near the Sinatra trail at the back."

Him and Daph exchanged quick glances and then looked back at Velms.

Things had started to be kinda weird between them since the prom a while back, and they were sure Fred and Velma had picked up on it. Much to Daph's horror.

They didn't really know why things had gotten weird, they knew they were both just friends and everyone knew Daph was just batty for Fred. And Daphne wasn't exactly sure how she could be stark raving bonkers for one guy, but have this new accidentally awkward exchange with another guy.

Shag wasn't really sure how to address it, he knew that Daphne was already in love and had been for a long time.

He knew they were always gonna be just friends, and yet the weirdness was still there. Ever since she had wrapped her arm around him at the dance things just felt different, even though they shouldn't have. Just friends can dance with each other all the time, maybe they were just over thinking it

"Because this forest has amazing cell reception we will _not_ be using Fred's walkie talkie idea." Fred groaned and rolled his eyes, he still stood by that plan that was for sure.

"When Scooby gets hold of the location of the culprit we'll call you and tell you where to go in order to corner him." She then walked over and handed them both tasers, "For some reason Freddie has police grade tasers in the Mystery Machine, I don't condone it but it's better to be safe than sorry. Please don't be afraid to defend your lives."

Shaggy gulped, pulling the trigger of anything wasn't his strong suit since he was too busy being totally frozen in place or running for his life.

But now he had Daph with him and she was capable of taking out any form of ghoul, so he was less worried about his livelihood at the moment.

Velma quickly finished briefing them, "The police will be alerted once we've found him and it should take them a maximum of 10 minutes to find us, so we need to make sure to keep him out in the open til then. That's about it, any questions?"

Daphne raised her hand, Velma rolled her eyes and pointed at her, "Could you please say Headless Beheader before we go?"

Velma groaned but there was a smile on her face, "Headless Beheader."

Daph let out that lovely, weird laugh as she and Shaggy began to make their way to the trail.

* * *

They had been leaning on the sign to the trail for about 6 minutes, nothing had happened.

Well except the leaf that fell on Shag's head which sent him in a panic that Daph quickly ended by grabbing his hand then reaching up and pulling the leaf off his head. She had meant to tease him about it but then realized she was holding his hand.

Then she totally forgot what she was planning on saying to him.

This had started a silence, not the mutual silence they both enjoyed but a terrible awkward silence.

Shag had no idea what to say, he couldn't just brush it off doing that always made girls angry, at least it made Velma angry. He wasn't totally sure what made Daphne angry, besides getting her feet dirty and Fred being totally clueless.

And Dirty Dancing, she hated that movie with a grand passion.

He looked over at her, she was currently playing with the assortment of rings on her finger. She was probably worrying about whether she'd break a bunch of them again.

The more violent their adversaries got, the more rings Daphne ended up breaking.

She would always make sure that the culprits they had caught would pay for the rings they were responsible for destroying.

"You good Shag?" She looked over to him, their eyes meeting.

He quickly looked out into the vast expanse of trees in front of them, "Like, I guess I'm fine for now. Just waiting to be struck by paralyzing horror and a wave of nightmares about some maniac called the Headless Beheader."

She tried to silence her laugh but it didn't fool him.

"Well if your hands start-"

"Daph I'm fine, honestly I'm just peachy keen okay?"

She looked down at his hands and then back at him, he knew that she had started always checking his hands before they went after their mask.

Of course he had no idea why she suddenly cared that much.

But then again things were weird right now so that might just be part of the weirdness.

"Okay...just-" She was interrupted by the ringing of her cell phone.

"Oh thank the Lord Almighty, like I thought they had already been beheaded." Daphne glared at him and answered the phone.

"Hello? Hi Velma did you- what? Velms I can't-" She began to move around Shag, probably trying to find a clearer area for better reception. After a minute of struggling to discern what Velms was saying she took the phone away from her ear.

Her face was gray, and when Daph was nervous it was enough to make Shaggy regret all his life decisions.

"I-she-they-I lost her."

Shag groaned and his breathing picked up along with his heartbeat. He wanted to make a run for it, they would have time to make it to the Mystery Machine and then they could call the cops, or the CIA or better yet just bring in the whole military.

But as soon as he saw Daph start making her way to the east side of the forest, to the area Velma had instructed to go to, he felt his feet move and their own and soon he was speed walking right next to her.

"So, Daph do you actually know what we're doing?" His voice was quivering and every bone in his body was telling him to get the fuck outta there.

"Velma's connection may have been mega spotty, but she did give the name of the trail we needed to be at." He sighed, amazing cell reception my ass. There went his delightfully awkward but safe time at the back of the dead teenager forest.

They picked up the pace per Daphne's request.

"Velms was also trying to warn me about something else." She said this as she began to walk even faster. Shaggy sighed, "Oh God of course she was." He chuckled nervously and sped up so he was next to her.

Daph was looking straight ahead, trying to spot the sign pointing them to the right trail.

"Yeah she was saying something about him setting stuff, again the signal was so bad it wasn't even funny. Like even with my fresh off the shelves brand new phone with all the latest in bells and whistles I couldn't make out what Vel-"

Her voice was immediately silenced and after a couple seconds Shag realized she had stopped in her tracks.

He turned around and saw her standing perfectly still, the blood seemed to drain from her face completely. "Daph what's-" He followed her eyes and looked down toward her right foot, which she seemed to be putting as little pressure on as she could.

Quickly he ran over and got on his knees, brushing away the leaves as gently as he could.

His breath hitched as he saw what he was praying he didn't see, a shiny, new bear trap. And it looked ready to chomp into Daph's tough and perfect leg. Shag felt the panic setting in and his breathing quickly picked up, he was on the verge of hyperventilating.

Daph saw his distress, "Hey hey hey! Shag don't look at that, um-uh j-just look at me okay?"

His eyes were on her's instantly and the calming purple helped him catch his breath again. She waited for him to get a grip on his senses before saying, "Shaggy, you're the one who helps Freddie the most when he sets up his traps right?" He nodded slowly in response, he saw where this was going.

"S-So you've seen traps like this all the time. Um- I need you to breath evenly and help me out okay?" He nodded again, he couldn't sit there and let Daph's leg get chomped that was for sure.

He took a long, deep breath and looked back down at the trap.

Then he made his observations, "The bad news is the beheading psychopath peeled off the directions to disarm it, so I have no specific idea on how to prevent your angel leg from being bit off."

She smiled at him, he felt a lot more sure of himself now that she was listening.

"But, like, the good news is that your perfect angel leg hasn't been ripped to shreds so that probably means they didn't set it up right. So our beheading psychopath is a trapping moron." She giggled in response and her smile grew brighter, but he could see tears shining in the corners of her eyes.

He continued to stare at the trap, still not sure what the best course of action was.

He sighed, "L-Look Daph I'm sorry, I-I know you'd rather have Fred here, he'd know how to disarm it in a second and we both wouldn't be scared out of our damn minds."

She scoffed in response, "BS, If Freddie were here he wouldn't even look at me, much less figure out that I am terrified beyond all belief. No he would spend the whole time admiring the trap, and totally forget that I was trapped in it."

He heard her let out a low groan, while he wanted to say that she was wrong and that Fred wouldn't waste anytime in saving her, he couldn't.

Fred was a lot of good things but tactful was not one of them.

"Honestly I'm happy it's you and not Fred. You may underestimate yourself, but I've seen your report cards. I know that you're a big ol' smartie pants!" He rolled his eyes, "Do good grades make me smart? Like, they don't exactly do much when it comes to our terrible, but inescapable lifestyle. do they?"

She replied by rolling her eyes and smiling.

He added on hastily, "Besides it's not like you're one to talk. I mean does Fred know about your straight A's since middle school?"

Her avoiding eye contact and beet red face answered his question.

Sometimes Daphne was able to render him breathless, and even though she was doomed at the moment, the gray light shining through the tree tops and onto her made her look just like an angel.

He realized he was staring at her while she was probably stressing her mind out, so he tore his gaze away and fixed it back on the leg chomper.

After a minute of brain wracking he came up with a plan.

He looked back up at her and found her staring intently at him, "Okay Daph, I think I have an idea of what to do."

She nodded rapidly and bit her lip.

Taking a deep breath, he continued, "When I say go you're gonna need to like, uh- throw yourself backwards. But in a diagonal direction." She nodded again her breathing seemed to speed up.

He stared intently at the pin that he needed to pull in order for the trap to disarm.

"Go!" He pulled on the pin and heard a clicking sound.

Before he could process it, Daph had crashed into him. He quickly stood up and she wrapped her arm around his shoulder, he then dragged her as far away from the trap as he could.

They both watched as the trap snapped shut, not ever going to know what Daph's leg would taste like.

Thank God.

For a few seconds they just sat there breathing heavily and staring at the trap, Daph's arm not leaving his shoulder.

"Wha-Why the hell did you jump on me?!" She didn't respond for a couple seconds then said, "I-I forgot which direction backwards was, seeing as I was in a state of ultimate terror."

That was a good enough answer for him.

"11 years later and you're still sharper than any bear trap in existence." He chuckled and he once again heard that amazing laugh.

After another minute of them not moving they heard shuffling coming from the woods.

Shaggy was done, he was 100% ready to ditch his friends and make a run for the van. The police could take care of the rest, they didn't need him to catch a creature from the 7th circle of hell that wanted his head.

But Daphne held on tightly to him and he wasn't able to run.

Out ran Fred, all sweaty and panting like he'd run a marathon.

"I...huh...finally found you two...hooo. Velms...sent me to...agh. to-um let you know...oh God...that we caught the guy. Well, Velma got him, she got him right in the back of the neck. I'm weirdly proud of her you know? Anyway we need to get back and and brief the police, who should be here in 5 minutes. I'll explain the solution on the way come o- hey is that a Rowhouse 1st addition bear trap?! Oh man you can't even get those in America legally anymore, this guy is on a whole other level of genius right?"

He stared at them expectantly.

They looked at each other and Daph gave him a look that said, "See what I'm sayin?" before they both looked back at him and scowled.


	4. Chapter 4

_**Part Four**_

" _ **If you die, I'll literally go out of my freaking mind."**_

"Look, at the end of the day I'm able to handle our, like terrible, life-shortening lifestyle. But that was because no matter how many horrible ghouls got up close and personal and nearly caused me to exit my body in an ethereal form, it always ended and that was that."

Everyone shifted uncomfortably in their seats as Fred sped down the empty highway.

Shaggy was leaning against the back door of the van, Daphne sitting right next to him. All of them were out of breath and Shag's breathing seemed to hitch every few seconds, his hands were shaking hard. But he couldn't get them to stop.

They had just been chased out of Fred's house by a woman taller than Shaggy wearing what looked like a baby doll's face.

She was recognized as Marilyn Andrews, an ex-special forces who had been terrorizing Coolsville for the past month or so. That it, until some meddling kids came along and did what they do best.

They thought it was gonna be like every other case, every loose end gets tied up and the bad guy goes to jail for a long ass time.

Except this time that's not what happened.

Instead Andrews escaped, and her first instinct was to go after the meddling kids that thought they could outsmart her. Just to ensure it would never happen.

"Shaggy she's ex-special forces, of course she can break out of prison. I-I guess we were just hoping she wouldn't remember how." Velma gently pet Scooby's head that was resting on her lap.

Shag let out a tired laugh, "Or course we were. You guys know what your problem is? Like, you're never willing to admit when maybe this is out of our hands. Maybe, just for once, we could let the damn police handle something!" He lifted his hands up in frustration.

He knew that Velma and Fred would rather die than admit they were in over their heads.

It was possible they still had trouble trusting adults and that was why they never bothered to never get them involved.

Nobody responded.

Daph had gotten on her knees and turned around to look out the window, probably checking to see if they were being followed.

She let out a sigh of relief and pressed her forehead against the glass.

Shaggy felt his heartbeat relax as he looked at her calmed face and her gentle eyes. For the moment everything was quiet, all of them just trying to grasp onto reality and keep their wits about them.

Velma continued to pet Scoob's shaking head.

Fred gripped tightly onto the steering wheel.

Shaggy and Daphne stared into each other's eyes trying to find an anchor to hold onto.

Eventually, the silence was ended by Fred handing Velma his phone and telling her to dial 911. Shaggy felt a rush of relief run over him and he finally felt his tense body relax.

Velma explained the situation as clearly as she could, she was having trouble forming full sentences.

"G-Got it, okay...um thank you officer."

She hung up and turned to Fred, "Uh- They tell us to head toward the high school a-and wait for them. I-In the van of course."

Fred nodded and without signalling, he turned right toward their school.

As he turned he said, "Daphne, there's a compartment right next to where we keep the spare tire. Open it and get what's inside." Daph nodded slowly and began to crawl over to where the tire was kept.

She wobbled around as the van sped up and slowed down.

Shaggy crawled over behind her and helped her lift up the door where the tire was. Instantly he spotted the compartment and motioned toward it. Daph followed his hand and nodded.

She leaned over his lap and opened the little door.

After opening it she froze for a few seconds, Shag placed a hand on her shoulder, "Daph, like you all good?"

"Jeepers."

She uttered this just under her breath causing Shaggy's hair on the back of his neck to stand up.

Jeepers was Daph's filler word she used when she couldn't think of anything better to say. Most of them had a filler word at this point, except Fred who never really needed to voice his feelings.

Velma turned around in her seat, "What was that? Freddie what did you hide?"

Fred's face was grim and he stared straight ahead at the road, not replying. Shag was attempting to spot what had shocked Daph but to no avail.

Eventually, Daphne removed her hand from the compartment, Shaggy and Velma's eyes widened when they saw what she was carefully holding.

"Jinkies Fred."

"Zoinks."

They used their filler words at the same time, not really sure how they were supposed to react.

Velma turned around with her brows furrowed, "Fred just what the hell are you doing with a gun in the Mystery Machine?! Are you crazy? If the police find out, who knows how much trouble we'll be in!"

Shaggy and Daphne flinched, Velma rarely raised her voice at Fred since they both never seemed to be disappointed in one another.

It was like watching Mom and Dad fight, not fun.

"Velma, we're getting chased by a freakin ex-special forces that's probably learned how to survive cyanide pill and escape Gulags, me getting arrested for unlawful possession is the least of our damn worries!" Fred snapped back at her as he made a turn into the high school parking lot, sending Shaggy and Daphne crashing into the back doors.

Daph yelped as she dropped the gun, terrified it would go off.

"Freddie when were you gonna tell us-no-me about this unknown Plan B?!" There was hurt in her voice, Fred remained silent as he tried to find a parking spot that was relatively hidden.

Daphne leaned over and tried to grab the gun but was once again flying against the door, a loud thud echoed through the van.

Shaggy looked over to her and saw her bite her lip and run the back of her head.

He sighed, they had all lost their anchors and were drifting off, it was getting too hard to pull themselves together.

As Fred turned into a dark parking spot behind a tree the gun slid right in front of Shaggy, without a second thought he reached over and grabbed it. Guns were heavier than he thought, he rested it in his lap as he tried to even out his breathing again.

Now all they needed to do was not move, or breathe, or anything to draw attention themselves until the police came.

He could really see how much he was trembling as he held the gun, he felt a rubber band that was being pulled back so far that instead of snapping, it might just break.

Everyone was way too close to snapping at this point.

His hand felt like they were both cell phones set to vibrate and people wouldn't stop calling them.

He saw two hands go over his own, he recognized the assortments of rings and the sparkly purple nail polish. The second her hands touched his a shiver went up his spine and his breathing hitched.

Her touch didn't normally do that, usually it just calmed him.

The quiet was becoming too much to bear.

It was like when you play hide and seek and you have a hiding in plain sight spot, and the seeker is in the same room as you.

You end up holding your breath and don't even dare to move out of fear of being discovered, and then having to be It. This was like that, but a million times more terrifying and ended in them dying if the seeker found them.

Nobody in the van was moving or speaking, just sitting there and using up as little oxygen as they could.

Daph's hands were still rested gently over Shags.

And he really hoped she didn't move them. Getting chills from her hands was better than being too scared to look up from his lap.

You could hear everyone release a deep breath as Fred broke the silence, "Daphne," Her grip of Shag' hands tightened, "Since you're the only one in this van with actual experience with firearms, you're getting the gun."

Shaggy could hear her breathing pick up and felt a panic in her voice.

"Bu- Freddie those were just hunting rifles and shotguns, for killing pigeons! Thi-This is a 9 mil, I-I've only fired one of these once!"

She was practically squeezing the life out of his hands at this point, but he couldn't find the energy to stop her.

"Daph that's one more than any of us, you're the best shot here. Besides it's only if Andrews beats the police here." Shag's blood ran cold at that statement, there was a chance the psycho would be able to find them and cut their intestines out and wear them a horrifying scarf of meddling kids.

Daph sighed, "But...Fre-"

She was cut off by the sound of a motorcycle engine roaring into the parking lot.

Her hands were quickly pulled away from him as she covered her mouth with her hands, closing her eyes tightly.

Shag ignored the cold feeling he got when her hands left his and placed the gun in front of her. He then got on his knees and turned around as quietly as he could, he then peeked out the window.

It only took a second to spot the huge woman sitting on the vehicle scanning the area.

Instantly he dropped down from the window and held his breath, "Like, that's definitely _not_ the police." He whispered it so quietly that only Daph could have heard him, but she didn't react.

He heard shuffling and peeked back to see that Fred, Velma and Scooby were all ducking down in the front seat so no one could see them through the windows.

He looked back down at the grey carpet, counting slowly in his head so as not to lose his shit at the last second.

For a while they just heard the engine softly humming on the other side of the parking lot.

The farther away she felt the more unbearable everything became.

Why wouldn't she just leave?

Suddenly the engine roared and was heading distinctly in their direction.

Shaggy felt Daph's hand reach out for his and he held onto it tightly. Both of their knuckles were white as mayonnaise on a BLT. Shag didn't even know what was running through Fred and Velms' heads. He had a good idea of Scoob's mental state, right around the same as his.

The engine's purr was getting closer and closer as Shag's grip on her hand got tighter and tighter.

He swore he could hear the motorcycle on the other side of the doors.

He could practically see Andrews right in front of them.

But instead of the doors being ripped off their hinges and them all getting their tongues ripped out, the sound of the engine grew distant, heading off in the other direction.

He heard Daph's breathing for the first time in the past two minutes.

He also felt a wash of relief go over his body.

But that all was reversed the second he heard the loud ringing of Fred's cell phone from the front seat.

There was the sound of scrambling and the sound of the NCIS theme song was silenced.

That didn't change anything though, it was way too late.

Shag peeked over and saw a tear running down Daph's cheeks as the sound of the engine halted, Andrews had parked. There was the sound of footsteps toward the van, he saw Daphne's hand reach for the gun out of the corner of his eye.

Before he had time to think, there was a loud *BANG* and a bullet whizzed through the side of the Mystery Machine.

Shaggy let out an ear piercing scream, and for once he wasn't the only one.

Immediately, Fred, Velms and Scoob jumped over the front seat and into the back.

Shag could barely process what was happening as Velma shook Fred, begging for him to have a plan. Daphne leaned over and slapped her telling her to shut her damn mouth.

Shaggy grabbed onto her shoulder and pulled her back, the whole van felt like it was spinning. He then heard another *BANG* and pulled Daph down so they were both in the fetal position. Another bullet, this time through the driver's side window.

Fred was trying to steady his breathing while everyone was either crying or on the verge of hyperventilating.

"Okay," His voice was shaking, like a pillar about to break apart, "She's gonna kill us if we stay here. W-We need to get into the school building."

Shag took a second to clarify what he said, "Like no way man! Are you out of you're damn mind Fred? There are a good 50 feet between the Mystery Machine and the front door. And in those 50 feet at a bullet hell being provided by a fucking psychopath lookin like Andre the Giant with a damn machine gun!"

Another *BANG* and they all ducked down again, she was getting closer.

Velma stepped in, "Shaggy it's not 50 feet, it's 43 feet and 15 inches."

Shag stared at her with a look of disbelief on his face, "Right and that makes it so much better! That brings out chances of survival up a whole 7.8%! Like, good for us!"

*BANG*

"Shaggy we will indeed die if we try to make a run for the front door. But if we drive up to the front door we'll have a higher chance." Shaggy gulped, he didn't like the way any of that sounded.

He had completely zoned out while they went over their plan.

All he knew was they were splitting up (of fucking course they were) and that he was with Daph. Which didn't make him any happier since he knew that if he was with Daphne he'd be more likely to do something stupid in an effort to protect her, even if she didn't need it.

They waited until the next *BANG* and Velma made her move for the driver's seat.

Ducking down, she turned the key in the ignition and the poor, scarred Mystery Machine awoke. Her next move was to put it in reverse straight toward the front steps of the school.

She put her foot on the gas and floored it.

Sending the rest of the gang forward crashing into the front seat.

There was a wave of *BANGS* but luckily all of them were near misses.

"HERE WE GO!" Velma yelled and the gang braced themselves for impact with the front steps.

The collision shook the whole van and knocked the wind out of Shaggy, his chest feeling tight. But he didn't have time to think about that because Velms had already put it in park and they were all crawling over to the back door.

Daphne pushed both of the doors open, the gun still in her right hand.

All of them quickly jumped out of the back and began to make a run for it.

Except Daphne, who had stopped and was staring at Andrews who was making her way toward the school. Shaggy groaned and rolled his eye as he ran back over to her and grabbed her free hand.

He then began to drag her into the school where they made a left toward the Chem lab where Scoob was supposed to be hiding.

"I swear Daph you make every horror movie mistake in the book. Like you didn't get the nickname Danger Prone Daphne by making smart decisions."

Daph only responded by tightening her grip on his hand.

When they made it to the Chem lab Shaggy could hear someone kick the front doors open and head in the direction where Fred and Velma went. Daphne prayed that Fred wouldn't get hurt and that Velma could handle herself.

Shaggy let out a loud sigh of relief and slid down the wall he was leaning against.

He looked around the room and spotted Scooby hiding under one of the desks in the corner, Daphne's desk to be exact.

Maybe Daph's scent calmed him down.

He then realized he hadn't let go of her hand yet. Looking up at her, he saw that she was staring down at the gun in her hand, a troubled look on her face.

"Daph, like I-I uh...I doubt you'll need to use it. Before you know it the police will be here they'll slap some cuffs on good ol' Andrews the Giant. And then we can go out to the nearest all you can eat buffet and prove how false their advertising is." She sent him a grateful smile but the doubt was written in her eyes.

They had rested there for maybe 8 minutes, aside from the occasional door slamming things were pretty quiet.

Daphne still hadn't let go of Shaggy's hand, but he wasn't really letting go either.

Shaggy was getting ready to walk over to the window and see if there was any sign of the damn police, wherever the hell they were they need to get in gear and save their lives already.

But he was cut short by one of those dreaded *BANGS!*

Both of them jumped and Scoob whimpered.

After a second Daph said in a voice laced with terror, "Tha-That came from Fred and Velma's direction!"

"Daph wai-"

Daphne had already opened the door and was making her way toward the gunshot.

"Damn horror movie mistakes." Shaggy muttered under his breath as he stood up, breathing heavily he stared out the doorway.

He turned back to Scooby who shook his head, his choice had already been made. Shaggy let out a long, shaky sigh and gulped, this could be listed as one of those stupid things he would do to protect Daphne even though she didn't need it.

As he turned out of the door he spotted Daph a few feet ahead of him, trying to find where the *BANG* came from.

He began to follow her cautiously, being wary of all the places a 10 foot tall monster could pop out and turn his kneecaps into belt buckles. He was brought to attention by the sound of Daphne cocking the gun.

"Zoinks." He whispered, this was for real.

They made their way down the hallway slowly, both a several feet apart from each other.

Shaggy felt his soul jump out of his body for a second at the sound of a deafening scream echoing through the whole school. Velma's scream.

That prompted Daph to break into a sprint towards the central courtyard.

Shag groaned as he jogged after her but grew nervous when he lost sight of her around the corner.

He then turned on his super speed when he heard a different *BANG* to the *BANG* he was used to.

As he reached the courtyard he froze for a second, drinking in the whole scene.

Velma's turtleneck was covered in what he hated to assume was blood. Tears were streaming down her cheeks but her face seemed to lack any sort of emotion or understanding of what was before her. Fred was on his knees next her, all the color had been drained from his face and he looked ready to throw up.

Daphne was only a couple feet in front of him, her back was to so he wasn't sure what her state was.

All he could see was her shoulders rise and fall with her breathing.

Lying in the middle of the courtyard, with an AK still in her hand, a bullet hole through the side of her head, was Marilyn Andrews.

Her eyes were still open and angry, the hunger to kill them still fresh in her lifeless face.

Shaggy's heartbeat had spiked and his breathing picked up.

It had just clicked.

Daphne had shot Andrews in the head to save Velma.

Daphne had killed Andrews.

Daphne, who saw the good in all people and preached that life was a sacred thing.

He felt like his legs were about to give out, "Daphne?"

She gasped and turned around, he saw that her face was drenched in tears. Her eyes were trembling and filled with so many different emotions he couldn't comprehend. A stark contrast to Fred and Velma's eyes that seemed glazed over and blank.

She dropped the gun and, without saying a word, wrapped her arms around his neck.

He heard her break into sobs as she nuzzled her face into the crook of his neck.

This only made his wanna cry with her, but instead he wrapped his arms around her and began to stroke her hair. Just letting her cry.

The jingle of Scooby's collar could be heard back in the school, making it's way closer to them.

And like the ringing sound of a cruel joke, police sirens quickly filled the parking lot.


	5. Chapter 5

" _ **Please shut up and let me save your life..."**_

Daphne only ever avoided the gang when she couldn't look them in the eyes.

Whether it was out of disappointment or fear or something much worse.

She wouldn't take any phones calls, answer texts.

Hell, she won't even answer the door for them.

These times were rare since Daph was almost never angry enough at them to leave them. But when they did happen they were long and didn't let up easily.

The last time this had happened was when Fred had accidentally spilled all her personal family drama to the lacrosse team. And then it immediately spread throughout the whole student body because Fred had no idea how high school worked.

She hadn't sat with them for lunch for almost a month.

Only returning after Shaggy and Velma came and expressed how much they missed and needed their peacekeeper.

Velma was too close to strangling Fred without Daph to defend him.

Of course Daphne returned since there was no way she could refuse Shag's desperate eyes. Besides, it felt really nice to be needed.

That had been a year ago.

After that Daph had become more accustomed to Freddie's major screw ups and was more comfortable with confronting him on them.

The gang was hoping this meant that Daph wouldn't randomly disappear from their lives again, that she would stay there next to them playing the ray of sunshine act she lived by.

They were wrong.

The night after the...incident with Andrews involving guns and tears and lots of hugs, Daphne and just gone home without saying a word to any of them

For the first few days the gang didn't bug her since all of them didn't really feel like showing up to school. Especially since people were keen to ask questions on what it was like. Some would walk up and admire the bullet holes in the Mystery Machine others would pose like a corpse in the same spot Andrews was shot.

Everyone was treating it like it was an amazing feat and that they were so lucky to have such an intense experience in real life.

Shaggy was glad at first that Daph wasn't showing up to school because he knew that people would flood her with questions about the exact thing she was being haunted by.

The gang could grin and bear it when they were being attacked with curious teenagers.

But if somebody congratulated Daphne on killing someone, they would probably snap.

Everything felt broken.

Like life had just kind of slowed down for them.

Sometimes things would just be totally silent even if they were surrounded with noise. Only able to hear their breathing and feel their hands form and into knuckles or their teeth sink into their lower lip.

It felt harder to walk in a straight line. Watching as things would be thrown into fast forward.

The only thing they had was each other.

Except Daph, who was just pressing pause on her life all together.

For the first couple of weeks they didn't bother calling her to ask if she was okay.

Of course she wasn't fucking okay.

One time, on the way home from school, Fred had driven up to Daph's house and parked in the driveway.

But that was as far as they got since none of them felt brave enough to go in and see what kind of state she was in. This was the first time the avoiding had been both ways, and Shag didn't like it.

Fred could barely focus on anything since he only ever had sudden romantic feelings for her when she was gone.

Typical.

And even though Velma wasn't ever going to say it out loud, Daph was definitely the one in the group that would be the first to call her out on her BS. Velma respected that.

Plus she was the only other girl in the group, and sometimes Daphne was the only one who could understand her problems.

Shag didn't even know what he missed from Daph, it could be her patience with his cowardice. Or her strong optimism in areas where it did not make any sense. Or how she was the only one who looked out for his shaking hands.

Even if that was a recent thing, it was her thing.

Scoob was depressed to lose the only other one in the gang that loved him as much as Shaggy did.

Without Daph the gang was just a bunch of pessimistic realists and a dog who sat at a lunch table outside and poked their food with plastic forks.

That had continued for almost three weeks, and by that time they felt more in touch with reality again. People had stopped making a huge fuss about the situation and they were all left alone.

It had been a Tuesday when Velma finally put her foot and declared that whether Daphne came back to school or not they still needed to check on her and be there for her.

Everyone agreed.

But Shaggy was dreading seeing what she had been doing to herself these past weeks.

They were all standing on the front porch of Daph's gigantic house, her mother blinking rapidly at the group of teenagers standing in front of her.

She seemed to be trying to remember who they were.

Were they high school faculty?

Or were they Daph's friends?

Her eyes drifted over to Fred and then her youthful face set into a tight scowl.

"Oh the Jones boy and his peanut gang, here to terrorize my daughter with those silly mysteries." She placed her hands on her hips in obvious disapproval.

Fred shrank quickly beneath the woman's stare, hiding behind Shaggy as if he was able to shield the woman's clear hatred for him. Velma groaned and rolled her eyes, so much for taking charge of the Daphne recon mission.

Shaggy ignore how Fred was tugging down on his shoulder causing him to lean back and quickly stepped in.

He wasn't sure if he stood a better chance with Daph's mom than Freddie did. But he knew she was seconds away from slamming the door in their faces if he didn't say something.

He gulped.

"Mrs. Blake, we're not here to drag her back to school or go solve mysteries." The woman raised an eyebrow at him skeptically, he took a deep breath, this was for Daphne.

"We haven't seen her for what? Like three weeks, right?" He looked back at Velma and she nodded, Fred was still cowering behind him.

"Like we're her best friends ma'am, we just wanna check on her and make sure she's not having some kind of mental crisis." He shoved his hands in his pockets in an effort to distract himself from her judgement.

She tossed her head back and let out a loud laugh.

Shag noted that she had the same laugh as Daph, just more condescending.

He jumped when she slapped her hand on his shoulder, what did he say to make her so engaging?!

"You're the Rogers boy correct?" Her tone was amused but it could have been a trap.

He nodded cautiously.

She gave him a perfectly symmetrical smile that shone from clearly bleached teeth. "Darling, mental crisis has run in our family since the 20′s. There's not really much you can do about it."

He sighed, she wasn't getting the point.

They were there with her, if anyone could help her it was them.

Right now Daphne felt like the lonely princess locked in the tower and they were the brave knights trying to make it past the fire breathing dragon.

Mrs. Blake must have seen the distress and hopelessness in Shag's eyes because she removed her hand from his shoulder and had taken a step back, inviting them in.

Shaggy gave her a thankful smile and walked into the spacious entryway.

Fred let go of his shoulder as soon as they made it through the front door, taking the spot as far away from Daph's mother as he could without being obviously terrified.

Velma rolled her eyes again as she stood next to him.

After she closed the door she pointed up the stairs, "Her's is the third room on the left. Don't touch anything, half the stuff costs more than anything you will ever make in your lifetime." She sent another glare in Fred's direction.

"We know ma'am, Thank you. Really."

Shag said this as he made his way up the grand staircase, hearing the footsteps of the others behind him.

"What the hell did you do to that woman to make her hate you so much?" Velma inquired, clear amusement in her voice. Fred cleared his throat and rubbed the back of his neck, "Honestly, I think it may be a large culmination of things so I can't pick anything specific."

Velma giggled as they reached the top of the stairs and made a left.

"But I'm pretty sure that it was some time around middle school, because that was when she stopped calling me Fred and just referred to me as 'The Jones boy.''

Velma sighed, "Well you were a clueless jackass in middle school so I'm not even a little surprised."

"Exactly when did I become the butt of all your jokes Velms? All you ever do is laugh at me now."

Shaggy decided to stay out of their bickering and concentrated on finding Daph's room. Normally he'd just pick the door with the most purple since that color was practically part of Daphne's DNA at this point. But since the whole house was just different shades of purple he was going in blind.

He would have known where her damn room was if Daphne ever let them go to her house.

Fred knew where her room was since Daph was constantly trying to get some sort of spark to happen between them. But he was busy poking Velma in the stomach in retaliation to her sad but true teasing.

Eventually he stopped in front of the third door where Mrs. Blake had told him where she was in the first place.

Genius Shag.

He took a deep breath and looked over toward the rest of the gang.

Velma was pulling on Fred's hair playfully and they both were in a fit of giggles.

Shaggy smiled and cleared his throat. They were pulled out of their world of acting like 7-year-olds and nodded. Shag took a step back and motioned for Freddie to go first. Give something for her to smile at once they opened the door.

He felt his heartbeat pick up as Fred turned the knob to the door slowly.

His heart might not be up for seeing a ray of sunshine lose it's shine.

They all slowly filed into the room and looked around, Shag was holding his breath in worry.

Every light in the room was on making the open room seem even bigger, but not soothing. It felt like a big, empty, white room, devoid of feeling and comfort. Shag felt a shiver run up his spine, it felt freezing cold and burning hot at the same time.

The only sound to be heard was a soft, "Jinkies," from Velma.

Her voice seemed to echo throughout the room, causing someone to stir within the pile of blankets and pillows sitting in the center of the king-sized bed. The gang all exchanged concerned looks and slowly made their way over to the bed.

Almost like a bunny peeking out of it's burrow, Daph's head popped out of her makeshift blanket cave.

Shaggy's breath hitched at the sight of her, although she had sent them a welcoming smile it was very tired and forced. Her hair looked like it had rats nesting in it since it was all matted and puffed out.

The things that captured his attention the most were the dark lines under her glazed over purple eyes and her cracked and chapped lips.

He chose to ignore the fact that his eyes went straight to her lips.

It was awkwardly quiet for a few seconds, eyes were avoiding contact and hands were fidgeting.

Eventually Daph leaned forward and pushed herself out of the hill of blankets and slowly crawling toward them, bringing herself to sit at the foot of the bed and clasping her hands in her lap.

She spoke slowly, her voice seemed to croak like a frog's, "Usually Mommy is the one who ends up bringing my homework."

Shag could tell she was trying to appear okay, but she was trying a little too hard.

None of them responded to her, Fred just stood in front of her like a telephone pole that was out of service and was staying like that till further notice. Velma sighed and rolled her eyes before kicking Fred in the back of the leg.

"Ouch! Velms wha-"

Velma cut him off and motioned for him to start talking to her.

Fred nodded and turned back to Daph, "Right, we... well we just came to umm..." Velma groaned and put her head in her hands while Shag sighed and shoved his hands in his pockets.

Sending the occasional consoling look to Daphne and hoping she picked up on some of them.

Daphne's face seemed to light up at Fred's attempts to reassure her. Shaggy let out a sigh, at least Fred's mere presence was therapeutic for her at the very least.

Immediately that sturdy faith in Fred's affect over Daphne disappeared when he said, "We just came here to see if you were down to go solve another mystery with us!" Daph's face fell.

"Damn it Freddie that is not why we braved the horror of Mrs. Blake." Velma kicked the back of his leg again and shoved him behind her.

She was about to present her own version of their speech but stopped when she saw Daph's eyes begin to well up. Velma froze, her delivery wasn't nearly gentle enough to console a crying Daphne.

"Shaggy talk to her."

He gulped and looked over at Velma, she was motioning for him to do something before Daph went full Disney princess. Or even worse, senior prom.

He nodded and took a few steps forward before squatting down so that he was at eye level with Daph. Her eyes instantly locked on his and the warm feeling returned to her chest.

Shag took a deep breath and spoke to her in a soft voice not tearing his eyes away from her's, "Daph, this isn't about us going in that van and once again stumbling upon a mystery that will no question scare the bejesus out of me."

She smiled.

"This isn't about us forcing you to go back to school where all the clueless jackasses are gonna shower you with questions." He felt her fingers grasp onto his gently, his eyes still didn't leave her's.

"This is about your best friends coming to make sure that you're actually okay. Not just okay because you say so. Because I'll tell you right now Daphne, none of us are okay." Velma and Fred nodded in agreement.

Daphne sighed shook her head.

"Shags I just- it was a lot easier to forgive Fred for doing something stupid. It wasn't hard to force myself off of a chair in the cafeteria to go sit next to my best friends outside."

Her grip on his hands tightened and she took a deep breath.

"Bu- I" Her lower lip quivered. Shag stayed quiet, giving her all the time she needed. "Leaving this bed, leaving this room, to go into a world of eyes following and mouths asking and just everything reminding me of what happened..."

"You don't need to force yourself Daph, none of us needed to."

She smiled again than bit her lip, "Shags I want to come back to you, to all of you guys, but then I see the front steps of the school and- just all the memories come flooding back."

Shaggy raised an eyebrow, apparently she had tried to come back once before.

"Daph, no matter what you do you're gonna remember it. For the rest of your life you're gonna remember this. But just know that we'll be remembering with you, and we'll always be here for you. You know that right?"

He squeezed her hands.

"And if it gets to be too much...then we can take you to the gym where they keep the football dummies and we can let beat the freakin shit out of one." He added, although his tone was joking his face seemed genuinely serious.

She stared at him for a second, then looked down at their hands. Thinking over all he said, enjoying how warm his grip on her hand felt. It then occurred to her that she would face hardship, but she would always have Fred's big bear hugs and Velma's shoulder and Scooby's kisses.

And Shaggy's hand.

Eventually she looked up and gave him a smile, a real smile.

She grabbed his shoulders and pulled him into a hug. While surprised he understood the meaning of the hug and grinned, wrapping his arms around her torso.

Fred and Velma giggled and walked over to join the hug.

But the look of contentment on Daph's face stopped them in their tracks.

Fred simply sent Velma a confused look and she shrugged in response. But as she looked back at her two best friends, a smirk slowly formed on her face.

"Freddie the medicine is for my mom not me I promise." Daphne leaned against the wall waiting for the nurse to return with her mother's "prescription" painkillers.

Shaggy rubbed the back of his neck as he leaned next to her, it was way too early in the morning for this. They were finally going to have a crack at solving a mystery after nearly a month without getting involved.

While Shag was 100% okay with that, Freddie was starting to get jittery.

At this point he was going through mystery withdrawals and you either thought it was sad like Daph, or you thought it was hilarious like Velma.

Since Daphne had seemed to get through the worst of it she promised Fred she'd participate after they picked up her mom's new best friend, codeine. Of course, her mom's source was one of the doofus doctors that decided he wasn't making enough money so he started selling his own hospital's inventory on the sly.

And somehow convinced a few nurses to get involved.

Unfortunately, those nurses liked to take their own sweet time and they had already been stuck in the back hallway for a good 30 minutes.

Fred was hopping from one foot to another and Velma groaned, "Would you stop that, you look more excited you get your fix than Daph's mom, God! The Harbor Harbinger of Death ain't goin anywhere Fred I guarantee it's not going to leave it's element as the name suggests." She crossed her arms and smirked up at him.

He sighed and nodded before leaning against the wall opposite of Daph and Shag.

"Yeah like Fred relax, we're a little out of practice for putting out lives in peril so maybe we shouldn't rush it." Daphne giggled and Fred gave her another confused look.

She used to always side with him.

Their whole dynamic seemed to be shifting and he wasn't really sure why.

Velma had rolled her eyes and wondered how Daphne was the one cursed to be super obvious with the one she has a crush on.

Shaggy seemed to pick up on Fred's confusion and Velma's teasing glances and he bit his lip, he really hated it when they acted like actual teenagers with confusing drama and weird things going on between just friends.

He glanced over at her and saw her looking down at her hands while she adjusted her rings, something she did when she was incredibly bored.

Suddenly a muffled scream resonated throughout the whole hospital.

Fred and Velma both began trying to place where the scream came from while Shaggy jumped and let out a yelp in surprise.

Daphne didn't really know how to react or what to do, she just stood there and shifted her gaze around trying not to panic. Her eyes rested on Shaggy's hand and for a second she was ready to grab onto her anchor.

But then she remembered the love of her life was right across from her, so why not just grab onto his hand?

She sighed and reluctantly walked over to Freddie, grabbing onto his arm.

"It was a woman's voice I know that much but it seemed to come from everywhere...uhhhh...Velms?" He looked over at her, she had her brow furrowed and was looking up at the ceiling.

Then her eyes lit up and she snapped her fingers, "The PA system!"

Shaggy groaned and let out that nervous chuckle that caused Daph's heartbeat to pick up.

"There's gotta be a control room for it we just need to locate it!" She began making her way toward the security office. The rest of the gang following behind her.

"Oh right that's brilliant, like lets go toward the blood curdling scream which will most likely lead us to a terrifying creature that likes to eat dumbass seniors for brunch! Genius move there Mensa!"

While Velma simply yelled at him to shut up and stay close to them, Daph looked back at him and peeked down at his hands.

They were barely shaking, but she saw it.

"Velma they'd most likely have it hidden in the back of the hospital." Fred said as he began to walk faster, Daph's grip on him tightened so she wouldn't fall.

"Oh ho ho, like this just keeps getting better doesn't it?"

Daphne's heart leaped, even his voice was shaking as they got closer to the security office.

Occasionally someone would dash past them heading for the exit, and they were sure the main areas of the hospital were in chaos, but otherwise everything seemed calm and quiet.

Which was easily worse than the hallway being filled with screaming.

As they reached a corner Velma motioned for them all to turn right.

Once they turned they were all instantly stopped in their tracks.

Hanging from a cord sticking out of the ceiling was a nurse, the same nurse that was bringing Mrs. Blake's fix.

Her body was scarred and ripped up, her eyes were rolled back and all you could see was white. Painted all around her on the floor and the walls were stick figures and random scribbles. It looked like something done by a four-year-old, but the kind that was possessed by a disturbed demon.

"Zoinks! Like noooo...that's it I'm done! That is not fucking okay time to go!"

Shaggy ran his hands through his hair and began pacing back and forth, the panic was setting in, hard.

Daph's breathing picked up and everything around her seemed to be drowned out by the sound of her hyperventilating. Quickly she turned to Fred and said, "Freddie you promised that if someone got killed then we-we w-wouldn't get involved."

Shaggy looked over and saw that familiar look that was on his face nearly every mystery, she looked like her knees were about to give out beneath her.

Fred hadn't answered her yet and that only made her breathing intensify.

He quickly walked over to her and began to rub her back, ignoring Fred's confused stare that he'd been shooting him a lot lately.

As he continued to rub her back he felt his breathing even out and his heartbeat slow.

Velma stared at both of them for a second and then sighed, "I'm calling the police and then we're getting out of this hell hole."

Both Shaggy and Daphne sent her a thankful look and she simply nodded.

Fred still stayed quiet, too busy focusing on the shifting dynamics of their tight circle. Not sure if he was prepared to adjust, change wasn't something he did well at all.

Velma hung up after explaining their situation and shoving her phone in her skirt pocket.

"They've already received several calls and a couple squad cars are only a couple minutes away but they're sending more."

Everybody nodded.

They all stared at each other for a second, finally ready to make a run for the exit.

But then they heard a growl.

A long, loud, angry growl.

And it was coming from where they came from.

Right behind them.

Slowly, the all turned around, Shaggy had gripped onto the back of Daph's shirt and Velma had taken a step behind Fred, peeking out from behind his arm.

Standing at the end of the hall, his head cocked unnaturally to the side, was a man with a scar running across both of his eyes that looked fused shut.

His clothes resembled a doctor's but they seemed all wrong.

But that wasn't the main issue with this.

The main issue was that in the creature's hand was one of those hand saws that they used to cut off casts.

And it was fair to say that was probably lethal.

Within seconds, the gang let out a shriek and made a run for it, Fred and Velma going down the hallway with the hanging body, Shaggy running in the opposite direction.

Daph stood still for a second, here eyes following Shaggy dash down the hall, she could here the sound of the saw growing closer to her.

She could hear Shag saying, "Basic horror movie mistake." in her head.

"Daphne what the hell are you doing?! Come on!" Fred was shouting for her to follow him.

He continued to call her name but she didn't respond.

Finally, she groaned and ran in the same direction Shag went.

"Damn horror movie heroine." She said under her breath as she ran, trying to spot where he went.

She was about to panic and look back to see where the freaking Doctor Demon was, but a hand shot out of one of the rooms and grabbed onto her wrist, pulling her in and dragging her into the corner out of the door's view.

"Why the hell did you follow me?" He said in a sharp whisper as he backed against the wall and wrapped his arms around her shoulders, her back resting against his chest.

"I-I um just..." She was unable to focus due to how terrified and flustered she was.

Plus that fact that he smelled like fresh soil and hot sauce. It was intoxicating.

"Like I got it, you panicked."

She just nodded as she brought her hands up to his arms and gripped onto them. The sound of the saw was slowly approaching the room they were in.

Shag's breath was forcefully being relaxed and Daph found herself holding her own breath.

"This is just hide and go seek meets freeze tag." She repeated this in her mind over and over.

The closer the sound got, the faster she thought it and the tighter Shag's grip was on her. Eventually it felt like the sound was right outside their door and Daphne's heart was beating so hard it felt like it was about to hop out of her chest and give them away.

She leaned her head back against his shoulder.

If the police hadn't shouted for his to put his hands up, Daph believed that he 100% would have entered their room and sliced them up into teeny tiny pieces.

But instead they were fine, letting out panicked/relieved breaths, still holding onto each other tightly.


	6. Chapter 6

" _ **You know like...two people, together. That nobody ever thought would be together..."**_

" _I'll let you students know right now that this job I've appointed you is your top priority, grades and attendance will be ignored until you find Miss McCall."_

Velma visibly flinched, as if their attendance record could get any worse this year.

The gang all sent each other worried looks, the fact that the principal thought calling them in here to let them know that their grades and attendance didn't matter would make them find Natalie McCall faster was concerning.

Never had so many people put so much faith in them and so far they were letting them all down.

To the point that the freaking principal, the god of their dimension, had to intervene and tell them that either they get their shit together and find his granddaughter or be forced to repeat the year due to the amount of classes they missed. Or worse.

People had sudden expectations of them now. And it was nerve wracking.

Before people would just label them the Nancy Drew wannabes that always sat outside during lunch and had a weird van that seemed like the prime piece of real estate to hand out pot.

Which explained why so many people approached Shag with the hope of buying _"A couple ounces."_

Which only led to Shaggy being confused and that person never associating with the gang ever again.

Daph would usually just say, _"I'll explain it to you when you're older dear."_

But now the student body president, and local queen of Coolsville, had been kidnapped a week ago and still no ransom was announced.

Suddenly people expected the Nancy Drews and their pot van to jump right in and search for the top rung of the social ladder. But for a while the gang hadn't planned on getting involved, seeing as there was no man in a mask involved. So it didn't really fall under their criteria of mysteries.

But when Natalie's boyfriend approached them offering money to find her, it became clear the people thought they were going to find the lost girl.

After a couple more days of pestering and one altercation where one of the girls from the cheer squad shoved Shaggy against the lockers and demanded they find Nat unless they _wanted_ to be thrown into the school swimming pool that would be "conveniently" filled with a mixture of Vaseline and Nair.

Of course Daphne nearly strangled her to the ground, she had zero tolerance for anyone who threatened her gang (Shaggy especially) but Shag pulled her away and promised they'd try what they could to find her.

Unfortunately, the gang had no idea where to start and Daph's constant suggestion that they just rip the cheer squad a new one and let the police handle it wasn't had started by talking with the parents who didn't even try to hide their disappointment at the sight of a bunch of seniors being their only hope to find their baby girl.

They then, skeptically, relayed anything they could remember regarding the kidnapping and their daughter.

The only useful things they got out of that conversation was the fact the Natalie was _"the perfect little angel."_ And that she was snatched the day of her 16th birthday party.

A party Daph and Fred had been invited to but both turned down since Scooby had a vet appointment that day and they didn't want a stressed out Shag left alone with Velms who would definitely try to be sympathetic and comforting. But she would absolutely 100% beyond the shadow of a doubt fail horribly and certainly make it worse. Bless her heart.

A few leads would pop up here and there but for the most part they all led to zilch.

The students were getting anxious about Nat's safety and annoyed with the gang who had yet to find anything on her. The cheerleaders had filled Shag's locker with unopened tubes of Nair that all came tumbling down on him when he opened it.

This only further convinced Daph that they needed to attack the squad and forget about finding Nat.

" _Daph, like they just miss their friend. Wouldn't you do the same thing if I was snatched by some freak?"_

" _Shaggy, the last time you got kidnapped you were missing for 24 hours and even during that small amount of time I wasn't able to function or think. I-If you were missing for the same amount of time as Nat than I..."_

She never finished that sentence.

They had left the principal's office with grim looks on their faces.

The gang could see the gears in Velma's head set at maximum speed as she tried to figure out their next damn move.

Fred grabbed the back of her shoulders and steered her through the crowd of people as she continued to think. Daph sent glares to any of the cheerleaders that walked by them and took a protective stance next to Shaggy.

" _Oh man my sweet knight in shining armor! Like, what would I do without you?"_

She was pulled out of bodyguard mode by his clear teasing and sighed, she knew Shag wanted her to give them a break. But that would mean having to apologize to them, and Daphne was not a fan of saying sorry to people she disliked.

They all stopped at Velma's locker, the wheels still turning it seemed, and Fred leaned against the door of the locker next to hers.

Shaggy and Daphne looked at each other and then back at Velms.

Whenever her brain was turned onto 100% she would usually be spaced out for a few minutes to a few hours. They were all hoping it would be the latter.

And they were lucky this time because after another five or so minutes with eyes glazed over, she popped back into reality with a start. Making Shaggy jump back and bump into one of the students. Both of them crashed to the ground.

Velma looked down and rolled her eyes, _"Maybe we should call you Danger Prone Shaggy so that you and Daph can be all matchy matchy."_

Daphne giggled nervously as she grabbed onto his arm and helped Shaggy stand up again, sending anxious glaces to a confused Fred, who didn't get the point of Velma's joke.

Shaggy didn't seem to hear what Velms said since he was too busy apologizing to whoever he crashed into and knocked down.

As he turned his attention back to the group, Daph let go of his arm and pretended to be busy brushing imaginary dirt off of her dress.

Fred just shrugged and turned back to Velma.

" _You got anything Velms?"_

She stared at all of them for a second before smirking, _"Of course I do, why else would you guys keep me?"_ She turned around and started to enter the combination for her locker as she began to explain her idea.

" _This is obviously so much bigger than just Natalie. I mean while it may be tempting to kidnap a 15 - no - 16 year old girl now."_ She pulled open her locker, _"I believe that this has something to do with her parents, her father more specifically."_

" _Wait so you think Nat's dad, like went out and pissed somebody off and like a decent human being the somebody that got pissed went and kidnapped the apple of his eye and now has him so nervous that he's practically pulling his hair out without touching it?"_ Velma sent Shaggy a glare and turned back to searching her locker.

" _I checked out a book on the McCall family seeing as they're one of the oldest families in Coolsville and this town is bored as fuck."_ She shoved a pile of, "light reading" books aside and got on her tip toes to try and reach up and grab whatever was behind them.

" _And for the generation before ours, or Nat's parents. The family had split off into two, one with Nat's dad and - thank you Freddie - one with Nat's uncle or her dad's brother."_ She held out the book that Fred had grabbed from the locker and handed to her.

She flipped through the pages quickly, most likely trying to spot one page in particular.

" _Basically a lot of bickering and,_ _ **'Why did daddy give you the nice house and I just got his $300,000 car?!'**_ _went down and the brothers stopped talking to each other."_ Daph snorted.

" _Been there done that, family feuds are so not as fun as you'd think."_ Everyone rolled their eyes and sent Daphne a look that said, "Not now."

" _Aaaanywaaay, because Nat's dad had made smarter business choices and isn't a fucking moron his brother got pissed at him and decided the reason he was rich was because he inherited 'more' than him from their dad."_

Fred cleared his throat and nodded.

Daph sighed, _"So...you think that this brother hated Nat's dad so much that he kidnapped his niece...o-out of revenge for being poorer than his brother?"_

Velma shrugged, _"That would explain why there's been no ransom demand, and the brothers have both been known to threaten each other in public. Plus he's able to play the concerned uncle card so the police haven't focused on him."_

Freddie groaned and pinched the bridge of his nose.

" _Velms you do realize that is grasping at not even straws here, we're grasping at coffee stirrers?"_

Velma shook head.

" _Look this uncle recently rented out the newer yacht brought to the marina and he's done nothing with it. He hasn't even taken it out on the the water! I'll bet you anything that he's keeping Natalie there!"_

Shaggy chuckled nervously, _"Like, I hope you're not willing to bet us all probably getting expelled if this doesn't work out."_

He could see Daphne glance down at his hands out of the corner of his eye. They weren't shaking, but he wasn't really sure why she thought they would be shaking at all.

After Velma's revelation they discussed the plan with the police.

While the idea got a lot of eyebrow raises, these meddling kids had never been wrong before.

So they dropped Shaggy and Daphne back at the high school so that if Nat was safe and intact they could call them and they would let the school know she was fine.

Fred and Velma were gonna be forced to stay in the squad car and that was the best they could get.

As Shag and Daph waited for the call from Velma it became clear how riled up the students were getting. The cheerleaders sneered and others sent them warning glares. They had no idea why them not being able to find Nat would automatically be their fault. Solving mysteries grounded in reality was never their thing and Nat was no exception.

Shaggy sighed, that was just the logic of high school, he was so glad he only had less than one year left of this hell.

And then he gulped, if this didn't work out then who knows what the principal would do to them. He could force them to repeat a year or worse, expel them.

If that happened it wouldn't be any good for Fred and Velma who both applied to Yale and Stanford. He glanced over at Daphne who was twiddling her thumbs and just looking pretty in general. She wanted to go to NYU in a desperate attempt to escape her family's stupid traditions and live as far away from them as she could within reason.

He felt his heartbeat start to pick up.

The future always seemed to make him nervous.

But the chance that this would ruin his friend's futures, Daphne's future, it just made his skin run cold.

He wondered how their parents would react.

He gulped, he had a pretty good idea of how his parents would respond.

He took a deep breath and bit into his lower lip, he needed to calm down. If he panicked now then he would just go absolutely insane if Nat wasn't okay.

It had been around an hour since they had been dropped off and there was still no call from Velms and no news of the condition of of the victim.

Daphne looked over at Shag and saw that he seemed to be in his beginning stages of panic, she wasn't totally sure where the panic was coming from but the current stakes people had put on them were even making her nervous.

She walked over to him slowly an began to make a grab for his hand, _"Shags...you alri-"_

Her moment was cut off by the sound of the Dairy Queen theme.

Shaggy's ringtone.

They jumped and seemed frozen for a second, both just looking at each other.

Exhaling, he grabbed his phone out of his back pocket and answered.

" _Velma?... It what?...With his girlfriend...She's just...gone?"_ Daphne was holding her breath as she heard the bits and pieces and felt her heart sink as Shaggy's face fell and his breathing picked up.

She wasn't there.

They had no idea where she was.

Or if she was still alive.

His hand fell back down to his side, Velma still talking to him on the other end, probably not aware that he wasn't listening.

Daph watched as his eyes began to dart around, _"Shaggy a-are you alright? You need to breathe!"_ She grabbed onto his hand which he quickly tightened around hers.

" _Hey! Nancy's! How's Nat is she doing okay?"_ Daph groaned as she looked around trying to spot a place to could hear him begin to wheeze, totally at a loss for breath, as more people began to approach them and demand Nat's condition. Making it even harder for Daph to plot an escape route.

After a second she groaned and made sure her grip on Shag's hand was tight.

With her other arm she began to elbow people out of the way, trying to find somewhere where everything would be quiet.

Out of the corner of her eye she spotted the van parked next to the front courtyard. She looked back at Shaggy, who was definitely not okay, and tightened her grip on his hand and choosing to ignore all the people that were calling out to them.

She tuned them out as she opened the front doors and made sure her and Shaggy didn't come tumbling down the front steps.

Looking back again her heart ached to see him like his.

Sure she had seen it happen before but usually Scooby helped him out a lot.

And this was definitely nothing like her mother's panic attacks that just required a shot of tequila and the Cheetah Girls 2 sound track.

Luckily the van had been left unlocked and she opened the back doors, climbing in and pulling Shag in with her.

Letting go of his hand, she crawled over and shut the back doors.

Now that she had nothing to tune out, Shag's shallow, panicked breath was the only thing she could hear. She turned back and looked at his pale face, _"Shag wha-what do you need me to do?"_ She crawled back over to him and grabbed both of his hands but he pulled them away. He cradled his head in his hands, still failing to breathe properly.

Daphne felt like crying and screaming and having her own panic attack but she would be leaving Shaggy alone. And that wasn't an option.

" _Sh-Shags look at me wh-what's wrong?!"_

She placed both of her hands on either side of his face and forced him to look at her face. His brown eyes were tearing up and were darting all over the place, almost refusing to stay focused on one thing.

As he tried to speak to her he seemed to be speaking fast in his head but it came out in a jumbled mess that he could barely squeeze out through panicked wheezes.

" _W-We...sh-she's- we're never- gonna find her...Sh-She could - She could be dead! A-and we're gonna be...m-...my parents are-...they're gonna kill me."_ Daphne shook her head, her eyes were probably tearing up just like his.

He kept going on and on to the point that it looked painful for him to try and talk to her, to barely string these sentences together.

She couldn't stand to see this, to see Shaggy, her Shaggy, losing himself and she couldn't think of anything to do. She watched his eyes that seemed to examine every detail of her face.

Those eyes always made her happy.

She loved those eyes dearly, and couldn't stand to see them so terrified.

What would she do to protect those eyes?

Maybe a better question is what wouldn't she do for those eyes to stay safe.

Nothing.

There is nothing she wouldn't do to protect those eyes, and the perfection they belong to.

Everything suddenly felt warm, not just the space around them but they themselves felt warm. A nice, comforting warmth, like the kind you get from a hug. But the kind of hug you want.

It had taken Daph a few seconds to process where this warmth was coming from.

And then she remembered that a few seconds ago she leaned forward and pressed her lips against Shaggy's, which I guess is typically classified as a kiss.

They stayed in that position for a while, Daph's hands resting on his cheeks as they both relaxed. At that moment, neither of them wanted to move at all because then that would mean they'd either pretend this never happened or talk about it.

Eventually that warmth had to fade, so Daph pulled away gently.

Not nearly brave enough to open her eyes and look into that face.

She noted that his breathing seemed to be evening out which was good. She slid her hands down his cheeks and let them rest on her knees.

Letting out a heavy sigh, she opened her eyes and was quickly welcomed by the shocked face of her good old friend Shaggy. His eyes were wide as he looked at her, clearly trying to process the events that had just conspired.

" _Wh-...What?"_ Daph flinched and bit her lip.

Shag was quiet again for a few seconds before saying, "W-Why the hell...Why did you kiss me?" Daph's heartbeat picked up and she felt her cheeks go red. _**'Because I'm so freaking in love with you to the point that it physically affects me and I hate it but I think I'd go crazy without it.'**_

That was the first answer that popped up in her head and it was a little too over eager and on top of that it included the stunning revelation that she was in love with him.

Something even she herself was not aware of.

" _I-...I just...I don't know! Isn't that just what you do in the movies? I-I just...you know figured since kissing is more powerful than modern medicine."_ She blurted that all out a lot louder than she needed to but it's the thought that counts.

Shag shook his head, _"You tried to end my panic attack by like using something only Disney would think of?"_ Daphne rolled her eyes, her cheeks still feeling hot as ever.

" _Well it worked didn't it? Look at you! You're all cool and okay. I mean...are you doing better?"_ She rested her hand on his shoulder, her voice quickly becoming concerned. He let out a sigh and leaned his head back so that is was rest on the back of the front seats.

" _S-Sorry, it was just a little too much all at once."_ She shook her head.

" _Don't apologize unless you did something wrong."_ He chuckled and looked back forward toward her, good lord those eyes are back, _"Shags, we're gonna be fine, you know that right? It's always gonna be okay no matter what happens. And even though we may have been wrong about Nat this one time that-...that doesn't mean we won't find her at all."_

She held onto his hand gingerly and stroked it with her thumb.

" _She's gonna be okay Shag's, we're always gonna be okay."_

He stared down at their intertwined fingers and nodded slowly.

Daphne smiled, _"Now we could either stay in here and wait for Velma and Freddie, or we wait for them back in the school."_

" _Like, staying here's good."_

Nodding, she relaxed her position, not letting go of his hands.

For the next few minuted they just sat in that familiar, comfortable silence waiting for their friends to return with the next plan.

The main thing on Daphne's mind during that time was, out of all the kisses she'd experienced in her life, which was a lot; this one was definitely her favorite.


	7. Chapter 7

" _ **You're so smart I could kiss you right now!"**_

Being a senior seemed to just be a short 365 days of trying to keep it together because damn it you were almost at the finish line.

Mrs. Moony, the track and field coach, always liked to say, _"The last lap is always the longest!"_

To which she would receive a mixture of glares because nobody was enjoying her trying to make them feel less miserable.

Since track and field was one of the few things Shaggy liked to think he was decent at, he always took Mrs. Moony's life lessons to heart. At least the ones that applied to him, even though it was always interesting to learn how to prepare a proper sedar dinner.

At first, Shaggy hadn't feared the step to becoming a senior.

People's expectations of him never had much of an effect on him.

Not even his parents hounding him about which "respectable" colleges to apply to bugged him all that much.

He was always gonna be his own person and if people wanted or expected something other than that, than they didn't want Shaggy and they'd need to fulfill their expectations in someone else.

Even his best friends had expectations for him that were never gonna happen of his own free will.

But that had changed when they reached adulthood.

Well, three of them did.

Since Velma was technically a year ahead in high school she was still 17. But mentally she was in between the ages of 45 and 6, it all depended on the time of day and the cycle of the moon.

Regardless of the grey area that was Velma's age, once senior year had started the gang all seemed to have adopted the trait called acceptance.

Never really pushing each other towards any sort of direction like they did when they were younger. Now they just silently supported and reassured that they were always on each other's sides. Which is something they could all use since the rest of the world was peeking it's head in their direction and asking in that stupid wishy washy voice, _"So what are you planning on doing with your life after high school?"_

Shaggy had always laughed softly while rubbing the back of his neck and saying he was considering Career #1 or Career #2.

That was enough for the world to go back to their corner of not minding their own business.

Fred and Velma both had their versions of a five year plan mapped out in their heads and had no issue talking the world's ear off so that it couldn't get an opinionated word in.

Velma and Freddie thrived in planning, especially when it came to their own futures.

Shaggy remembered the first time he saw early applications for Stanford sprawled out in the back of the Mystery Machine. During freshman year Velma had being getting a lot of interested letters and phone calls but the only college that would ever catch her eye was Stanford.

Velms had been crawling between each piece of paper, each asking a lot of questions Shag never even really considered. Especially back when he was 15.

He wasn't really confident that Velma thought about them either because she ended up throwing the packet away and avoided discussing the subject with her parents and the distressed guidance counselor.

At the start of senior year Fred had gone up to Massachusetts for an interview with Harvard, even though it didn't really interest him at all. Daph had made that observation a long time ago. Deep down she was sure Fred was getting swept by the world trying to drag him around, not even sure what he wanted to do with himself.

Regardless of whether or not Fred and Velms were ready, they were definitely prepared.

Shag wasn't really sure what was going on with Daph when it came to her future.

Ever since they had reunited in the 6th grade Daphne had been obsessed with NYU. He remembered that glint in her eye when she'd talk about it, mouth full of tater tots and hands covered in glitter due to art class incidents.

It was the same glint that had overwhelmed him when they first met in that hallway and a strange purple girl had given Norville Rogers a name.

That NYU glint disappeared a long time ago though.

High school happened.

Drama happened.

Fred happened.

It wasn't really anyone's fault, once your age has the suffix "teen" in it, NYU glints tend to get chewed up and spit out, now bruised and battered and not really wanting to get up again.

Too many people telling her to be realistic and aim lower. Telling her to hold back.

But if anyone could convince the glint to stand up and face the future again, it was Daphne.

At least, that's what Shaggy thought.

He had seen little peeks of the glint this year when she discussed all the appealing things on her transcript that she was sure would appeal to NYU's ideals.

He loved that glint, and he really hoped that Daph was able to help it stand up and bring it with her through the rest of her life.

Senior year had brought forth a new form of jokes that Shaggy utilized wholeheartedly. He called them the community college jokes, and they actually got laughs out of people which was honestly a miracle.

The whole schtick just consisted of him reacting to his grades, or even if anything inconvenient happened, and stating, _"Now I'll never get into community college!"_

These jokes were the answer to people's questions that involved his plans regarding the future.

At this point in his life he believed he had everything together, that he was actually gonna make it through this high school shit with only mild trauma and a crippling fear of silicon.

He could see the finish line, and while his calves we killing him and sweat was pouring out of him, he had made it.

But than Daphne had run up in front of him and stopped him in the middle of the track. _"Daph, like what are you doing?"_ He nervously eyed his parents who were sitting off by themselves on the bleachers. Neither one of them had peeked up from their phones. Their dark eyes always seemed to be on something other than him, ever since he was born its been that way.

He felt his eyes welling up with tears and he wished he could leave the track, just for a couple minutes.

But Daphne was holding on tightly to his shoulders.

" _Da-Daphne can you ju-"_ He was left breathless by the sight of Daph's bright violet eyes one him, not leaving him for even a second.

The whole world went quiet, like it all seemed to just disappear.

Leaving just a breathless shaggy dog and a strange purple girl.

He wasn't sure what to do, he wasn't frightened by the purple girl, but he wasn't sure what she was gonna do. Suddenly something happened that made his heart totally stop- it was one pause for a few moments.

The purple girl's eyes sparkled, with this hope and happiness that felt almost familiar to him. A familiar glint. One he seemed to adore, like it was an old friend.

And those violet stars grew closer and closer until he felt like he was gonna burn up, but he didn't even care. Because that glint was beautiful.

He closed his eyes, ready to burst into flames.

But instead he felt something cold and soft.

Her lips on his.

And it's rushed and clumsy.

And they have no idea what they're supposed to do. Almost as if it's their first ever kiss and they have zero experience.

At least that's what feels like.

Rushed, clumsy, and new.

Oh so new and it feels too right to even be happening.

The right thing never happens to them.

They get chased by men in masks and pretend their parents love them. They Set up elaborate traps that are doomed to fail and they avoid eye contact with people who laugh at them in the hallways.

He feels her purple hands grip onto his shaking ones. And suddenly he doesn't care.

Because it's about time he found something good on this damn track.

They both slowly pulled away and just stared at each other. His face probably looking just as shocked as her's.

Her grip on his hand's tightened.

His heartbeat returned.

He stroked the back of her hand with his thumb.

Her eyes sparkled.

He let out a startled yelp at the sound of his alarm clock losing it's fucking mind.

Shag stared down at the meal that had been slapped down on his tray. Normally the lunch crew were very friendly to him since he was one of the few people that complimented them on their food without fail.

" _Dorrine must have gotten a visit from her ex again, that'd explain her mood."_ He thought as he began to worm his way through all the tables and walked toward the back door.

He sighed as he noticed that the usual soggy french fries were dried out and kinda spongy looking.

It wasn't that big of a deal since he just dipped them in the canned gravy that they served with the bagged mashed potatoes.

Food truly was a work of divine art.

He pushed open the back door and instantly spotted the unforgettable colors of his people.

Velma joked about how after freshman year they somehow all became totally color coded when it came to their wardrobe. It wasn't until Velma had pointed it out that Shag realized just how much green he owned. But that was fine, he liked green.

Today was just wearing a green hoodie over a white tee and jeans.

Fred had used to be obsessed with wearing ascots when they were in middle school. If he wasn't wearing anything kitschy around his neck than he might as well have been naked. And then it was dumb hats that you would wear on backwards more for principle's sake than style.

And now they were in the era of watches, but just the old looking ones with hash marks instead of numbers.

Currently Freddie was wearing a silver one that he seemed to favor quite a bit.

And Velms was sitting next to him, picking at the sad excuse of a salad that they served for people who weren't willing to brave the risk of food poisoning. She was rocking a black turtle neck and a simple orange cardigan.

Velma had always worn turtle necks for as long as Shag had known her.

The reason back then was she still had baby fat and kids were assholes so a lot of names were shouted out to her and they would stick in her head.

Those words turned into turtle necks.

Now Shag was pretty sure she just wore them because she hated the way anything else looked on her.

Daph was sitting on their table facing his direction as she seemed to be invested in the large Subway sandwich she had in her hands. Her pink cheeks were stuffed and there was mayo stuck on the corner of her mouth.

He grinned to himself. Daphne would always be the strange purple girl.

It was as if she couldn't physically leave the house unless she had something purple on.

Sometimes her whole outfit would be an elaborate display of purple with almost every accessory you could think of. And sometimes it was just a subtle display, maybe just purple shoes or a purple hairclip.

Today she had met in the middle with a royal purple tanktop and earrings to go with her black jeans and green scarf.

Daph was never able to put it in human words as to why she adored the color purple some much, but she ensured them that if at least one of the human languages had the right word to describe it, she would use it all the time.

She looked up from her sub, that seemed to be the love of her life at that moment and made direct eye contact with him.

And then she sent him a bright smile and mouthed out the word _"Hi."_

He returned the smile and made his way over to their table.

Well it wasn't really their table, it was just some old picnic bench in the central courtyard. After they had been officially branded as the weird Nancy Drew wannabes they ended up hiding outside while eating, unless it rained. Than they'd just sit in the back of the Mystery Machine in a circle, knees touching.

They didn't purposely isolate themselves, it just kinda happened.

They figured that would be a lot easier than being involved in unnecessary drama.

Of course after all the business with Marilyn Andrews and them finding Natalie McCall, they had been getting a lot more attention.

Shaggy still wasn't used to queen bee Natalie waving to them and asking them if they wanted to go out and do something with student council later.

So lunch wasn't as quiet as it used to be, but at least they weren't getting hounded by teenagers with condescending tones.

At the moment, the gang was alone.

" _You took your own sweet time getting here. Usually you're the first one in line for lunch."_ Velma looked over at him and popped a cherry tomato in her mouth, _"God didn't give you the world's longest legs for nothing."_

Shag rolled his eyes and grabbed a napkin from his tray, handing it to Daphne.

He pointed at the corner of his mouth and she nodded, wiping the mayo off.

" _Well I_ _ **was**_ _about to make a mad dash for the front of the line, like maybe hop over a few tables in the process."_ Daph giggled and took another big bite of her one true love.

He placed his tray on the table next to where Daphne was sitting and leaned against the edge next to her.

" _But Nat popped out of fucking nowhere and was asking me about hanging out this weekend."_ He shoved his hands in his pockets, looking for his cell phone which he had the terrible inkling he had left sitting in the back of the van.

Fred chuckled, _"Nat seems to like popping out of freakin' nowhere when it comes to you Shag."_

" _Hardy har Freddie."_ He let out a soft sigh of relief as he remembered he'd put his phone in his back pocket. Velma jumped in, _"No wait, maybe Fred is right. I mean all the signs are there, you're the only one she reached out to on all the social stuff."_ She picked up what sort of looked like an olive and threw toward him.

Totally missing and hitting Daph.

She let out an annoyed huff but said nothing, seeming to choose putting her full attention on her sandwich.

Velma smirked, it had just occurred to her that this conversation topic was the last thing Daph would wanna participate in. So Velma did as Velma does. She kept pushing the topic.

" _I mean I'm pretty sure the cheerleaders probably told her everything, about how_ _ **you**_ _were the one who made the promise that we'd find her."_ Shag's cheeks went pink and he rolled his eyes, now he knew Velma was just trying to get him all flustered.

" _One, she has a boyfriend who she is pretty happy with last I checked. And two, the only thing I did to earn her feelings was make that promise. Like, other than that I did fuck all."_ He reached behind him and picked up a spongy french fry.

Velms snickered and shook her head, still gauging Daph's reactions to everything they were saying.

For now it seemed that she was just trying to ignore the conversation and pay attention to her food. But Velma could see right through her, and she could see that Daph was getting annoyed. Perfect.

" _Oh my dear Shaggy, my darling Norville."_ He cringed and threw another fry at her. She stuck her tongue out and continued, _"Crushing on someone is not as simple as liking one person at a time. That's like you having one favorite food."_ Shaggy placed a hand over his heart and faked a hurt gasp.

Velma nodded, _"I know right? Seems impossible."_ She popped another tomato in her mouth.

She sent a quick glance over toward an annoyed Daphne and then proceeded, _"You see it's possible for her to still really like her boyfriend, whoever the hell he was, and also like you, maybe just the teeniest tiniest bit."_

" _Mensa level vocab there Einstein."_ Fred giggled and poked Velma in the shoulder. _"Thank you."_ She shoved another one of those olive looking things in Freddie's mouth to shut him up.

" _Or,"_ She made clear eye contact with Daph, who was avoiding looking at anything besides the damn sandwich,

" _It's possible she's over her boyfriend and just likes you now, that's the kind of thing that happens when you're a sophomore, you're still young and not really sure what the hell you want yet."_

Shag writhed uncomfortably, _"Okay Velms like that might be taking a little too much liberty. Plus if that were the case, which it isn't, than it's more Nat's business than ours anyway."_ She spotted Daph's small nod and grin at his response.

She sighed.

Daphne will always be easy to read.

" _The point is that sometimes people like one person and it seems like a forever deal and nothing is gonna change it, but than their brains mature and decide they want something else."_ Fred sent her a confused look, which she ignored.

This was definitely something that was higher than his current social skills level.

The issues that come with being a sheltered mayor's kid.

Shaggy gave her a confused look as well, but it was a different kind of confused.

" _Yeah, like I know that Velms. Like you just described the basics of high school dating. Any reason why you're talking about this?"_ Velma sent a subtle glance back to Daph, who was definitely going red.

She smirked, she was done here.

Letting out a loud sigh, she turned back to her depressed salad, _"No real reason, I just like to tease you on how much of a ladies man you are. You're quite the slugger son."_

Shag grinned, _"Shut the hell your mouth, loser."_

Velma and Fred giggled, bringing their attention back to whatever they were doing before they started talking about Nat's love life.

" _Ahem! A-Anyway- oh thanks Daph."_ Daph handed him the rest of her sandwich and Velma snickered, she had talked the appetite right out of her.

He seemed to basically inhale to sandwich in a few seconds as his friends watched on in awe. Velma still believed that if they ever needed to be involved in a school fundraiser, they just needed to have people pay to try and get Shaggy full. They would be able to pay back the school's debt tenfold and then some.

He crumpled up the wrapper and carried on, _"The thing Nat wanted to talk to me about was student council having a party tonight in our- I mean the- central courtyard."_

He gestured to the area around them with his free hand.

" _It's supposed to be for the varsity teams and stuff but like she believed we deserved to come."_

Velma groaned, _"Oh yeah that sounds like a blast, lets hang out with the lovely young men and women that made high school a living hell for us."_

Shag sent her a warning look and she shut up, bitterly picking at her lunch.

" _I didn't wanna flat out say 'No' to her so I just said we'd talk about it and get back to her."_ Velma turned and look over at him and whined, _"Why the fuck would you give that poor girl some hope?"_ Shag flinched and rolled his eyes.

" _Because Velms, she's a sweet girl and she's just trying to make things right between us and the rest of the damn student body before we graduate and only return for awkward high school reunions 20 years from now."_

Velma opened her mouth to respond, but she didn't feel like that statement deserved one of her smartass comments.

So she just sat there opening and closing her mouth, trying to think of the right thing to say.

Suddenly, Daphne finally said something after remaining quiet for the whole time Shag had been out there. He almost was startled by the sound of her clear and high pitched voice, but was still always glad to hear it, _"Well since the goldfish isn't saying anything I will."_

Fred snickered.

Another olive resembling substance was shoved in his mouth.

Daph turned and their eyes met instantly.

Shaggy gulped, he suddenly remembered the dream he had last night.

Of them.

And their eyes.

And their hands.

And most of all, their lips. Their clumsy lips.

" _I'll only go if Shags goes."_ Velma turned and looked at both of them so fast that her glasses fell down her nose and she needed to straighten them out.

Daph seemed to suddenly realize what she said and looked down at her hands.

" _I-I um. I meant I'll- I'm okay with it i-if we all wanna go."_ Fred's shocked face settled and he nodded.

Velma snickered.

" _Oh yeah only if_ _ **all**_ _of us go."_

" _Velma you are invited to shut up at anytime."_ Daph still hadn't looked up from her hands.

" _Don't wanna."_

Shag rolled his eyes, Daphne had set her off again.

Velma had turned into the stereotypical Bond villain and was now drumming her fingers together.

After a minute of horrifying silence and clear evil scheming she spoke, _"Alright, I'll go to this dumb party to patch up the holes of my flawed high school life."_ Shaggy grinned and was about to speak but Daphne placed a finger over his mouth to stop him.

She raised her eyebrow at Velms than said, _"If?"_

Velma cackled, _"You don't miss a beat my dear nemesis!"_

Shaggy didn't even know what was happening anymore, and he could tell Freddie had gotten lost in this conversation a long time ago and was now playing puzzle games on his phone while absentmindedly listening to bits and pieces.

" _I'll eagerly go and be nice to every stupid letterman jacket there if..."_

Her gaze hopped from Daph to Shaggy and back again and suddenly Shag felt very nervous.

" _You two wear matching earrings"_

That's not as bad as he was expecting.

Daph looked back at Shag and he nodded.

She sighed and turned back to Velma, _"Alright fine. Do you have anymore weirdly specific demands or are you done exploiting your power?"_

Velma shrugged and picked up the last tomato in the bowl, throwing it in her mouth.

Shaggy's grin resurfaced and he turned toward Fred, _"Fredison? Like, you in bud?"_ Fred was pulled out of his spot the difference streak shortly to send him a thumbs up, _"It'll be really fun, I mean that's what I think anyway."_

Shag nodded and turned toward a trash can a few feet away from them.

He took the form as if he was about to shoot a basket and threw the wadded up Subway wrapper.

Unsurprisingly, he missed and watched as the wrapper rested on the ground next to the wrapper less basket. Daph let out a loud, _"Booooooo!"_ And Velma said, _"You suck, you'll never be Shaq!"_ Fred sent him and apologetic look and nodded in agreement.

Shag let out a loud groan and threw his hands in the air, _"Nooooooo! Now I'll never get accepted into community college!"_

The people sitting by the courtyard exit in the cafeteria could hear a loud mixture of boos and laughter.

Shaggy didn't actually remember the exact reason he had gotten his ears pierced. Deep down he was pretty sure Velma had manipulated the situation to convince him that it was his idea but in reality it was hers.

The main reason he went with was, _"Hell yeah I'm 18 losers and I can do whatever I want and so I'm gonna get holes punched in my ears!"_

He only had a couple pairs of earrings, both of which were purchased as gifts by Daphne.

The whole experience was a blur since they only had one place where you could get your ears pierced cheap. And it was jewelry store for 12 year old girls. Plus he was pretty sure he cried which made him just wanna bury the experience ten times more.

At this point he didn't really think the whole ordeal was worth it since Shag only wore things in his ears every so often.

He stared out of his bedroom window, resting his elbows on the window sill, just waiting for that familiar relic to pull up in their fancy half circle driveway. It was still up for debate whether his parents had actually heard him when he told them he was going out tonight and wasn't sure what time he would get home.

He sighed and closed his eyes, running his hands through his hair.

They wouldn't really care unless they genuinely required his presence for something, usually to be a model for their "experimental" pieces.

If that was the case than they would be royally pissed off that he left the house and wasn't on standby for their dumb paintings.

It wasn't the normal bad stuff he did that pissed them off, the couldn't give less of a shit about his staying out past curfew or something. But oh boy if he dared to do a load of laundry or go and drop of their recyclables, that's when all hell would break loose.

The last time he washed the dishes they got so mad that he was only allowed to leave the house for school and nothing else, for a whole week.

Apparently they had been needing those dirty dishes to complete their latest work of art.

They could have given him a heads up or something but okay fine.

Cruel and unusual punishment it is.

Of course as soon as the gang found out they snuck in through his bedroom window, on the third floor, and hung out with him. Everyday for a week they did that. It was like they were all sharing his punishment to the point that it wasn't a punishment anymore.

Shaggy grinned as he looked down at chipped paint on the sill that had gone through the runner with them all stomping on it when they'd climb in.

He stared at one large bare patch that was just exposed wood now.

Climbing up a ladder to a third story window every day was just asking for trouble. Especially when it came to Danger Prone Daphne.

It was on a Thursday when her danger prone ways finally got the best of her.

She had somehow lost her footing on the ladder right when she had reached the sill. Luckily she was fast and gripped onto the wood, cringing as she felt the paint peel up under her fingernails.

" _Jeepers! Freddie help me!"_

The whole gang turned toward the window urgently and Velma let out a distressed cry as they all ran over to help Daph.

Shag was surprised that he was the first one to get to her and didn't waste anytime grabbing onto her wrist and bracing his legs as he began to pull as hard as was humanly possible. He felt Fred grip onto his sides, helping him pull. He was sure Velma was doing the same thing behind Fred.

After a long struggle of forcing themselves to back up and not lose their footing they had gotten her up on the sill.

Everyone let out a loud sigh of relief and Shag let go of her wrists, that had turned totally red from how tightly he was holding on. He was about to ask her if she was alright but she quickly bounded off the window sill, where he now saw a lot of the paint had been chipped off and wrapped her arms around Shaggy's neck.

Shag's eyes widened, that wasn't what he was expecting.

" _Oh Fred I knew you'd save me!"_

He closed his eyes and sighed, now that was what he was expecting.

Fred cleared his throat, clearly not a fan of the turned tables. _"Er Daph..."_

Instantly Daph's eyes shot open and she quickly assessed the situation she was in.

She let out a nervous chuckle and backed up, avoiding eye contact with Shaggy. _"I-I mean, thank you Shaggy."_ Focusing on twiddling her thumbs she let out a couple thank you's to Fred and Velms as well.

Shag decided to brush the whole interaction off and grinned, _"You are very welcome my dear."_

He grinned at the memory.

And remembered how the idea of Daph giving him the kind of hugs she gave Fred made his heart race a little too fast.

That was probably the start of him being aware of how much he just liked to look at Daphne. Seeing every little subconscious tick she had. Those little grins she'd give to the little things that made her happy. The way she'd play with her rings when she was deathly bored. Her uncharacteristically boorish laugh that would always make everyone around her just as happy as she was.

He figured that was the start of things being weird between them. The start of something being there.

Stroking the bare wood his mind flashed back to the first time he ever met his purple girl. Her speaking a little too loudly just to make sure he was listening to every word she was saying. And of course he was, because everything about this strange purple alien captivated him. And everything about her always would.

Sighing he directed his attention back toward the window.

Who was he kidding?

Ever since he had met her he had seen that something standing between them, just pulling them together. Very slowly.

He had just never seen it pulling them, until he asked Daph to dance.

That was something Shaggy didn't do with Daphne, but he did it anyway.

And now senior year was a lot more complicated than it needed to be.

He let out a loud groan that made Scooby jump and almost fall off his spot at the foot of Shag's bed.

Shag didn't have anytime to laugh at him because he spotted the dim lights of a "groovy" green micro-van. They must have seen him waiting like a loser with no life outside of his friends because Daph stuck her torso out of the passenger side window. He spotted that huge smile and her waving her arms back and forth like windmill propellers.

He waved back to signal that he saw her.

God even from the damn third floor of his house and at 7 o'clock at night he could still see those eyes.

Petting Scooby on the head he said, _"See you later bud. Like I'll try to bring back some high school party snack food for you."_ The dog's head perked up and he licked Shag's hand. Letting out a low whine as some sort of thank you.

He was 100% certain that his dog could understand English and anyone that said otherwise could take it up with his Great Dane that just whined out a thank you for him.

Walking over to the hatch that was sort of his bedroom door, he pushed it down and watched the ladder fall, creating a path for his exit.

Once he had closed up his "door" he stared down toward the stairs that would lead him into the living room, which was in eye shot of the studio. And judging by the strong scent of charcoal and acrylic that's definitely where his parents where.

He didn't wanna risk being spotted and stopped so they could ask him to take his shoes off real quick so mom could do something weird like paint a pair of shoes onto his bare feet. And he didn't have time for that.

There was back staircase that led down to the back door, which they could only see if they were in the kitchen.

And they were never in the kitchen.

He took a deep breath as he wrapped his fingers around the knob.

Hopefully, he wouldn't be grounded until graduation when he came back.

He dashed quickly through the back yard, avoiding the spotlights dad had set up to show off his flower garden. Taking one last look behind him, he opened the fence gate that would take him to the front gate.

" _Shags, everytime we pick you up from your house anytime after four you act like you're trying to break out of prison."_ Daph giggled as she turned fully in the front seat so that she was looking at him sitting in the back.

He chuckled halfheartedly and shrugged, _"My parents are time wasters, what else can I say?"_

Her gaze seemed to be ten times more intense to him when they were surrounded by the beginnings of evening. His dream involving her eyes being the equivalent of young, violet stars didn't seem all that absurd now that he was looking at her directly.

Not even realizing that nobody had said anything for a good five minutes because he was too busy just being caught in bright, purple headlights.

Velma rolled her eyes.

Freddie was too busy driving to care what his passengers were doing.

" _AHEM!"_

Daph and Shag jumped out of their pocket universe and back into reality, both turning their attention to Velms.

Velma folded her arms over her chest and smirked at the obvious blush on Daph's cheeks, _"I believe you two losers made a promise to me in exchange for my attendance to this apparently obligatory gathering of jackasses."_

They stared at her blankly for a second, piecing the sentence together before their faces lit up in remembrance and Daphne grabbed her purse.

After a couple seconds of fishing around, she pulled out a small Ziploc bag containing a single stud earring with a purple jewel.

It was then that Shaggy realized Daphne was wearing the stud's brother or sister on her left ear. When Velma said matching earrings this isn't what he was picturing. He figured she meant like they'd both wear a set of pearls or something. Not wearing one half of one set.

That was like saying that Daph was his other half to a bunch of people who didn't have any business knowing any of that.

Suddenly his eyes widened as he realized what was going on and turned to look at Velma. She currently was sporting an innocent grin, but he knew damn well what she was doing.

He wanted to groan or sigh or something but instead he just grabbed the baggie and opened it.

Why did Velms suddenly care enough to meddle in her friend's lives?

She never cared enough about that before.

She'd just let weirdness and drama happen and stay as far away from it as possible.

" _Y-You put it in your right ear Shags."_ Daph stated, a huge grin stuck on her face. He nodded, his eyes not leaving Velma's.

She just stuck her tongue out at him and directed her attention to Fred, who seemed to be in his own little world at the moment. Just waiting for the exit that would take them to the high school.

Honestly it gave Shag the chills at just how easily Velma was able to control the mood around her with a single action. Daph was a big, beaming mess. Shag couldn't stop fucking staring at her. And Fred was stuck in one track mind mode.

He wouldn't even be surprised if Velma had ordered them to wear matching earrings just so the the van would be dead quiet on the way to the party.

And Shaggy was fairly certain he was the only one that could ever figure out Velma's ulterior motives.

She wasn't on a Bond villain level.

No she could scheme fucking circles around Auric Goldfinger.

And due to her scheme, the ride was silent for the rest of the way to the school.

Eventually they were pulling into the school's parking lot and to the spot farthest away from where they had hidden from Andrews. Seeing the school at night time, when it was dark, sent a wave of chills through Shag's body.

He didn't like this one bit.

He saw Velma leaning her head against the walls of the van, reaching up and tracing the spot wear the bullet holes used to be. Fred's dad had payed to repair them a couple weeks after it happened.

After they had gotten enough pictures for all the newspapers and networks of course.

Fred was just keeping his hands on the keys that he had just pulled out of the ignition, face blank like he was trying to prevent himself from getting shaken up about something that was already over and done with.

Daphne bit her lip and kept her eyes on the compartment where they kept the spare tire, never really brave enough to bring it up with Freddie again.

Velma had yelled at him for a long time at the police station after they had given their statements and were just ready to go home.

But after that, nobody really saw a point in fighting over it.

It didn't matter anymore.

There was maybe a couple minutes of brooding silence before Velma let out a sigh and began to crawl toward the back door.

" _Let's get this shit over with."_

That seemed to snap everybody out of it and as a group they walked toward the school.

The setup was about what you'd expect from the Student Council budget.

Balloons and tablecloths.

That was about it.

In the school colors of course.

Orange and Purple.

As soon as the gang entered they were welcomed by a bubbly Nat, who wasted no time announcing their arrival to the whole damn party.

Shaggy and Velma eyed each other, both in the mood to go hide behind the snack table to avoid all the new eyes on them.

Daphne and Freddie instantly got comfortable moved into conversation mode with a group of the cheerleaders. Shag turned to ask Velma if she wanted to hide in the big bowl of pretzels with him, but saw that she was already there, stuffing her face so she would have an excuse not to talk.

Of course Jesse McIntyre didn't care and quickly approached her.

Now he was in dangerous territory, but luckily he seemed to be a master of one sided conversation seeing as Velma was only contributing the occasional nod and Jesse still looked thoroughly invested.

Shaggy smiled, still awkwardly standing at the entrance alone.

He looked over at Fred and Daph, one of the cheerleaders must have said something funny because Daph was letting out that amazingly terrifying laugh.

Fred's laugh looked so composed compared to her's, a couple of the cheerleaders looked a little spooked by the noises coming from the girl's mouth. Shag sighed, this was usually how parties ended up when all four of them went to one.

Fred and Daphne being the only ones brave enough to have conversations.

Velma letting other people start conversations with her.

And Shaggy standing alone near the snack table staring at his phone.

Or in this case, staring at Daphne but that's neither here nor there.

He wasn't really sure how long he had just been standing like there staring at Daphne Blake like a sad asshole, but he soon felt a small hand grab onto his and begin to tug him toward all the "fun."

Startled, he looked down and saw Natalie gripping onto him, a wide smile on her face.

Shag always thought it was a little weird that Nat had like the exact same shade of blue eyes that Fred did. Freddie constantly promises they aren't related but Shaggy still didn't totally buy it. He felt like someone had to be lying.

But other than the eyes, Nat and Fred were nothing alike.

Nat's natural hair color was a light sunkissed brown, although she usually had it dyed some crazy unnatural color.

This month she had it dyed a dark purple that was darker at the roots and faded into a lighter purple at the tips.

He gulped, everything he was gonna look at for the rest of his fucking life would remind him of Daphne wasn't it?

Cool. He was glad to be in a perpetual state of patheticness for all eternity.

His eyes shot back down to Nat, who was about the same height as Velms. Meaning she was far too small to him, like miles down. She giggled before saying, _"I'm not letting you get out of having fun."_

He groaned, _"Aw damn it, so close."_

She giggled again and steered him toward a huddle of people."

His heartbeat picked up, it was group of the football players. The same ones that would call him _"Mop Top"_ and _"The Jolly Green Giant."_ He had no idea how to talk to new people that he knew nothing about. That was pitiful considering he had grown up with most of them and he could only recall their first names.

That big bowl of pretzels suddenly became incredibly tempting.

' _No! We're not chickening out! This was our idea to begin with and we're gonna follow through with it!'_

' _Who the fuck is 'we'?! I'm on my own moron.'_

" _Everyone,"_ Nat's clear voice rang out and attracted the group's attention like a suspicious noise attracted Fred away from Mystery Machine. _"You guys remember Shaggy right?"_ Still not letting go of his hand, she pulled him forward so that they were both included in the man huddle.

A couple of them stared at him blankly, having no idea who the hell this tall boy was.

Most of them smirked and nodded.

A few looked sort of sheepish, probably remembering something rude they said to him or about him.

One guy, Christopher Merlin, said, _"Yeah he's with the Nancy's right?"_

Is that what the gang was officially branded as now? The Nancy's?

Shaggy figured it could have been a lot worse, if anything is could be taken as a compliment.

A very backhanded one.

Nat sent them all a very intimidating smile and said, _"He's also the one who stood up to Hayden and the cheer squad and promised them he'd find me."_ Shag raised an eyebrow and looked down at her, _"Stood up to,"_ is definitely stretching his actions out way too far.

He had really only said something to Hayden because if he didn't Daphne would probably scalp her.

He wasn't totally sure how far the truth had been re-woven before it had reached Nat. So it was possible that all the attention she was giving him was misdirected. Or he was just refusing to believe that Velma's pointless teasing had some light to it.

It was then that he realized that Nat was still squeezing onto his hand, and that alone was really weird. But the fact that they were in front of half of the football team made it seem like some crazy dream he'd have that Fred would try to over explain and Daph would ask what he had for dinner that night.

He had the strong desire to pinch his arm and suddenly wake up in a cold sweat.

All the stares he was getting from guys who had never really been on amazing terms with was making him ever regret convincing the gang to come to this thing.

Since when was he the one that cared about ending their high school days on a good note?

Nat had been carrying on a conversation for what seemed like a million years, Shaggy was just praying that she'd be done soon and just drag him over to the damn pretzels.

A better idea would be to let go of Nat's hand and excuse himself from the conversation, that's what Shag normally would do.

But Shag wasn't exactly set to normal tonight.

He figured he'd be fine as long as he wasn't directly addressed.

But of course the second he thought it, the fates chuckled and pulled their puppet strings, forcing Shaggy Rogers to be directly addressed at a high school party.

" _So, Shagster,"_ That was a new one, _"When the hell did you do that to your ears?"_ One of the players that was standing next to him, Shag was sure his name was Randy, tugged lightly on his right ear. The one with Daph's earring in it.

Suddenly everyone looked back at him, a look of realization on everyone's faces as they saw what Randy was gently yanking on.

Shaggy didn't answer for a few seconds, as he was trying to collect his thoughts and his thoughts were currently a big jumble of, 'Oh Zoinks. Fuckin. Shit Shit Shit.'

And he was fairly certain that all of those weren't a proper response to Randy's question.

'Wait, what the hell did he ask me again?!'

'Ears...'

'Oh yeah.'

He let out a quiet breath and finally replied, _"Like, um, at the beginning of this year. You know, because I was officially 18 so I wanted to do something dumb but not really dumb."_ God this was painful.

" _Yeah? Well, purple looks just darling on you."_ Randy chuckled and turned back towards the group.

Shag let out a soft laugh, behind that laugh was the desire to go hide in the Mystery Machine. But that would mean letting go of Nat's hand forcefully and just leaving the circle. And suddenly Shaggy was afraid of hurting these people's damn feelings.

Seventeen year old Shaggy wouldn't have cared.

But to be fair seventeen year old Shaggy only had to worry about the mask of the week and an occasional bad grade because he hadn't gotten enough sleep the night before.

He was sure his hands felt incredibly sweaty in Nat's, but of course she was barely acting like her holding his hand was beyond their current friendship level.

Suddenly his clammy hand that felt almost fused to Nat's was pulled from the small girl's grip and he swore he felt his hand take in a big gulp of air.

Looking up he wondered what had forcefully released Shag's hand from a death grip.

As he looked over he saw that familiar bright red hair rush between him and Nat, _"Henry oh my word it feels like forever since I last saw you!"_

Daphne had run forward and pulled one of the players, now identified at Henry, into a classy side hug. Henry gave her a confused smile and chuckled, _"Daphne I saw you in Macro this morning. You threw a pack of Skittles at me remember?"_

Shaggy grinned, he remembered that.

Daph stared at the football player blankly, as if it occurred to her that he wouldn't remember that. Eventually she let out a sheepish giggle and began to rub the back of her neck, _"I-I guess that just feels like forever you know?"_

Shag could feel his insides imploding for her, now she had been trapped in a painful social situation.

Henry just gave her a soft smile and turned his attention back to Randy, who was now rambling about how they took Skittles out of the school vending machines for some reason.

Daph let out a quiet, possibly relieved, sigh and turned back toward Shag sending him and amused look.

In return he gave her an apologetic one.

For a split second Daph's eyes had left his and darted to the left of him. It was then that Shaggy remembered Nat was standing next to him and had been gripping onto his hand up until a minute ago.

It came to his mind that Daphne didn't need to run between him and Nat since it probably would have been much easier for her to just run between him and Randy.

He quickly brushed those thoughts to the side since this was Daphne and she tended to do everything without thinking about it and just ended up confusing herself when she was asked why the hell she did that.

After another minute of awkwardly standing in the middle of the huddle Daph silently took the spot between Randy and Shag.

Neither of them contributed anything to the conversations happening around them.

They just stood next to each other, and that was enough to make both of them feel safe.

Shaggy had shoved both of his hands in his pockets in fear that Nat might try to grab his hand again and then she would have to suffer holding onto his nasty, damp hands.

Occasionally the group would be sent into loud bouts of laughter, and during those times Daph and Shags would giggle along, pretending they 100% knew what hilarious thing had just been said and they also thought it was hilarious.

Sometimes she'd catch him looking at her and vice versa and then they'd look into each other's eyes for a couple seconds before giggling awkwardly and turning away.

So far this party thing had been fairly standard for the two of them, although it had a pretty shaky start and Shag doubted he would ever actually get to the damn snack table. But that was okay, he thought, at least he wasn't stranded and alone over here.

" _So wait. Wait, wait, wait..."_

Everyone's attention was drawn to the guy standing next Henry, Shag recognized him as Elliot, Daph recognized him as the 3rd date she had gone on during sophomore year.

" _Daphne I thought you were dating the Jones guy?"_

Shaggy looked down at her, she was wearing a very confused expression.

She bit her bottom lip let out a puzzled laugh, _"Um...I'm not. W-We're just friends as far as I can tell."_

Randy snorted, _"Where the hell did that come from Elliot? Are we playing Truth or Dare, 8th grade edition?"_ Elliot gave him and annoyed glare, _"Well fuckin' I'm sorry dude! I just kinda always assumed Blake and Jones were and item and then the Nancy's show up tonight and it's fucking Blake and Rogers wearing the couples earrings."_

He lifted up his hands and gestured between the two of them.

Instantly all eyes were on them, and Shag could feel Nat's powerful stare.

That was it.

It was time to just die.

Anytime.

Right now preferably.

Daphne let out another nervous chuckle and Shag saw her fingers begin to fidget as she tried to think of a response.

Deciding he needed to help her, he took in a deep breath, _"It's- There not couple's earrings. Like Velma just dared us to wear matching earrings to this party so that she would-um come."_ That was never gonna get any easier was it?

Randy raised an eyebrow skeptically, and the rest of the team followed him.

Nat let out a chuckle, _"So you two aren't a thing?"_

'Define thing.' Shag thought as he would admit that things were really complicated between them. But that was also none of their damn business.

He shook his head, _"Like we're just friends guys, right Daph?"_

For a second he was wondering who he was asking the question for.

The crowd of curious football players and one student council president.

Or for himself, maybe searching for some sort of reality check that would remind him that Daphne was always gonna be in love with Fred.

That "always" was probably the biggest thing keeping his feelings hidden, so far down that even he didn't see them. And maybe if he heard that "always" again in the form of her agreeing that they were just friends, than he'd be able to accept and move on.

But instead of Daph agreeing with him, she just stared up at him for several seconds, looking absolutely lost even though she knew right where she was.

And suddenly Shag felt lost too. There was no "always?" Where was it?!

What the hell did this mean now?

Daphne never answered his question.

Instead she exited the huddle and rushed past everything and everyone, and straight toward the exit into their courtyard.

And of fucking course Shag wasted no time following her because now they had been transported into some stupid rom com and chasing after her went right along with this Freeform worthy script.

Fred and Velma both sent concerned glance toward them but Velma signaled to Fred to just let them go.

He nodded, confusion clearly on his face.

The huddle plus Nat stared after them.

Nat let out another chuckle before turning back to the group.

" _Elliot what door have you opened?"_

Elliot scowled, _"Oh sure it's always my fault Miss 'So like you are totally not dating right?'"_ He pretended to bat his eyelashes and twirl his hair with his fingers.

Nat rolled her eyes, _"Randy, you're the one that went to the same class as them, what do you think."_

He remained silent for a few seconds, maintaining a pensive look, _"He asked her to dance at prom a couple months ago right? And she actually danced with him right?"_

Everyone nodded and looked at one another knowingly.

Except Nat who seemed to be missing some crucial detail.

" _So? Guys and girls can dance and not have it result in a marriage proposal."_ She placed her hands on her hips.

The huddle all snickered before Henry clued the confused girl in, _"Dear Natalie, we have basically grown up with Daphne always being a part of our life, dances included."_ Nat still wasn't getting why this was a big deal.

" _During the eight year worth of dances, stupidly awkward middle school dances to trashy dance parties where losers spike the punch,"_ He sent an annoyed look over toward Randy, who just let out an exaggerated cackle, _"Daphne Blake has never, and when I say never I fucking mean never-no exceptions, danced with anyone except Fred Jones."_

Shaggy groaned and ran his hands through his hair, what exactly was happening right now?

What was he trying to accomplish by chasing after her?

Was he trying to be dashing or something?

Because he doubted he looked anywhere near dashing as he tried not to trip on loose tiles.

Not to mention his hands were still in his pockets.

So he definitely looked like some sort of freakishly tall, armless creatures that was just bounding through nature.

Truly horrifying.

He wasn't even surprised that Daph could run so fast even though she was wearing heels.

He had seen her take on some terrifying men in masks twice he size in six inch heels.

Lucky for him, high heels weren't particularly quiet shoes and so he had a distinct *clip clop* to follow. This went on for several minutes and he had the sinking feeling that Daph would never stop running for the rest of eternity.

So he decided to call out to her.

" _Excuse me! Daphne! Have you run out of juice yet?!"_

He then turned a corner and was surprised to see that he had caught up to her quite a bit. Now she was only a few feet in front of him.

" _Jesus I'd like to talk to you about the Avengers' initiative, good God!"_

He heard her let out a soft laugh.

She stopped running.

So did he.

She still hadn't turned around to look at him.

He shifted his weight from on foot to the other, just staring at her messy red hair that had gotten wrecked up by the force of her endurance running through the whole damn school.

When she did eventually turn around he was terrified.

Mainly because his brilliant rom com hero's plot hadn't been written out this far.

He stared at her for a few seconds.

She didn't look mad or sad or happy or anything really.

She just looked like Daphne with messy hair and red cheeks.

What really sent his heartbeat going beyond the speed limit was that fucking glint in her eyes. Why was it there?!

' _Fuck it. Like we'll do it live'_

He took a couple steps forward.

He gulped.

Breathing was really hard if he thought about it.

" _Daph, like what's wrong?"_

Brilliant, he clearly had grand control of this situation.

Daph looked down at her feet, an amused smile on her face.

When she did reply, it seemed annoyed, _"Timing, that's what's wrong."_

He raised an eyebrow.

Timing?

Timing.

His eyes widened.

Timing!

Oh.

Timing.

" _Yeah."_

Daphne looked back up at him, her eyes still practically glowing.

" _Shags I...I really wish I had danced with you sooner than the end of senior year."_ She took a step forward and he instinctively took his hands out of his pockets, letting her grab onto both of them.

He intertwined his fingers with her's instantly.

" _I wish I had been smart enough to ask you sooner..."_

She shook her head and smiled up at him.

" _My dumb ass probably wouldn't have said yes."_

He thought about for a second before nodding.

" _And damn it, when I finally did say yes to you it fucking a few months before all four of us separate for our new lives!"_ He saw her eyes begin to tear up so he squeezed her hands tightly.

She let out a pained chuckle, _"I don't suppose NYU happens to interest you at all huh?"_

He smirked at her, _"New York has amazing food, and you soon. But other than that I don't see any appeal."_ She sighed and nodded.

Silence.

For a long time, just silence.

" _Wait so you are for sure accepted into NYU than?"_ She beamed brighter than any star he had ever seen, honestly all stars were posers compared to her damn smiles.

" _Orientation starts August 26th."_

He squeezed her hands again.

" _So I have one more summer with you..."_

She squeezed back.

" _Indeed you do."_

A/N Okay this took me way too long to write and I know it's really long but the fact that it's so long is why it's been like eight million years since i updated!


	8. Chapter 8

**Part Eight:**

" _ **He likes you a lot, doesn't he?"**_

Fidgety.

That's the word Velma would use to describe her best friend Fred Jones at this particular point in time.

He had been playing with his watch of the day, a copper Casio, while sitting across from her at their picnic table. Noticeably lacking in two other members of their clique.

Velms was fine with that though since if they were here they'd be doing some form of cuddling or handholding and refuse to acknowledge it. At least they did all their lovey dovey stuff far far far away from her and her not caring.

But as she watched Freddie's head turn in the direction of the parking lot where they were probably hiding Velma sighed and pushed her glasses up her nose.

" _I know that this is absolutely not my thing whatsoever and if you bring this up in the future I will deny it but,"_ Fred gave her a confused stare, not really sure where she was going. Velma groaned, _"Do you wanna…I don't know, talk about it?"_

After a few seconds of silence, he nodded.

Taking in a deep breath, Freddie began to pour all his thoughts out to the quickly overwhelmed girl.

" _Don't you think this whole thing between them sorta came out of nowhere? And ever since it happened they haven't been spending as much time with us and more time with each other. And neither Daph or Shag ever brought this up with me, did they bring it up with you?"_

Velma shook her head slowly, to be fair it was so obvious so she didn't see why either of them would come to her.

And it was painfully clear why they'd never even considered going to Freddie.

" _It's just, we've been best friends for the longest time and I never ever would have seen this coming."_ He huffed.

Velma saw more words in his mouth but she held up her hand to silence him.

She cleared her throat, _"Fred I need you to answer a question for me. And I need you to do it with complete honesty got it?"_

He nodded quickly like a child being berated by his mother.

" _Good. Ahem…..Are you all worked up over this because you're jealous?"_

Fred's eyes widened and his cheeks went red.

" _No! No I just…..No!"_ Velms watched on in amusement as the frazzled boy tried to find the right words. _"We've always just been friends the four of us. Things never got complicated that way."_ Velma nodded as she remembered the disaster of her and Shaggy trying to date. That was not one of her finer ideas.

" _You and Shag stopped talking to each other for weeks after the whole….well-I mean you already know."_ Velma nodded again.

" _And….okay I know he doesn't want me telling you this but, it broke him. It was a genuinely painful time for him and I don't wanna see Shag or Daph go through that again."_ Velma's breath hitched as she understood. Daphne and Shaggy were two very broken individuals who had to fix themselves on their own. And though Velma only used it for teasing purposes she could really see how crazy Daph was for Shaggy.

As for Shaggy.

She was sure Shaggy had been in love with Daphne for a long time, but his self-esteem and not wanting to ruin his friendship with Daph had kept that all under lock and key.

And Velma was surprised to realize she was relieved that Daph had grabbed the key from his nervous hand, unlocked the door and accepted everything he had hidden away. She smiled to herself, as far back as she could remember they had always needed each other. Not even just romantically or platonically.

Just unconditionally they both needed to be together.

And after so many damn years of things pulling them apart it was like everything let go and forced the two of them to crash into one another.

It was then that Velma knew she had the proper answer for Freddie.

" _Fred, those two have always had a deeper connection, one that us socially inept assholes could never understand."_ She sighed and looked down at her lap, _"We've always underestimated those two and I want it to stop, starting with us being skeptical about them suddenly being together."_

While there was a frown still stuck on his face his eyes shone with understanding and he begrudgingly nodded his head.

Velma reached over the table and smiled as she grabbed onto his fidgety hands, _"Let's try to believe in that connection that was strong enough to last this long."_

People seemed to just love drawing attention to all the new senior couples on the block, asking them if they were gonna get married or go to the same college.

Shaggy and Daphne were no exception.

Ever since the rumor that spread like wildfire that the cheer squad had seen them holding hands while sitting on the bleachers and chatting, people had been swarming them with questions. Ones that eventually got extremely personal and they weren't able to escape sexual questions either.

It was like all the sophomores wanted to live vicariously through them or something.

Because of this newfound attention, they both liked to go off and be alone if they wanted be able to touch each other without sending all of Coolsville High into a frenzy.

At the moment they were both leaning against the Mystery Machine and discussing Daphne's living situation in New York.

" _There's actually this cool apartment complex a few minutes off campus where they just assign you with four other roommates and then you can split the rent four ways."_ She was currently holding up Shag's hand and comparing it to her own. Eyes sparkling like she was back in sixth grade and spouting on about how she was planning to study Fine Arts.

And God he was so happy to see those eyes shine again.

" _Uh huh, and like that brings the grand total down to?"_ Shag said sarcastically as he intertwined his fingers with hers.

Daph chuckled sheepishly and tucked her hair behind her ear, _"At least $20,000 a year."_

Shag whistled, _"Holy shit Daph."_

Daphne sighed and leaned her head against the van, closing her eyes, _"Ugh I know but it's the best option presented at this point. Unless I decide to live in a burrow or something. But I doubt New York rabbits are very generous with their real estate."_

Shag chuckled and she raised an eyebrow at him, he cleared his throat and smiled, _"Sorry, I'm just thinking about a world where everything is the same except rabbits are the real estate agents."_

" _Glad to have your undivided attention Shags."_

" _Like, you're very welcome."_

She inched closer to him and looked up at his face. He was wearing a very proud grin from coming up with the bunny real estate universe.

" _You think you're hilarious don't you?"_

He began to lean down toward her and she smiled.

" _Absolutely. 100%"_

She giggled, God she hated him.

Wrapping her arms around his neck, she began to close her eyes.

And then something banged against the van and Shag let out a loud shriek. Daphne turned towards the noise and let Shag grab onto her hand to prevent himself from making a run for it. Daphne sighed as she saw that it was just a group of football players knocking on the van to get their attention.

" _Nice yell Rogers, definitely alerted your knight in shining armor."_

Daph rolled her eyes at the cheap insult but Shag laughed, _"Yeah I've been told I have fantastic range."_

He sounded like Freddie whenever an insult went over his head, but Daphne knew for a fact that Shag understood when he was being made fun of.

Sighing, she waved at two of the senior players that she had met at the party a couple weeks back.

They remained quiet while the younger players pretended they were here to have an actual conversation when Daph knew any of them were seconds away from asking who liked to be on top.

'Just a few more days of this and then we'll all graduate and not have to deal with pointless questions. It'll just be me and Shag for a whole summer.'

She gulped.

'Just one last summer.'

'Alone with him.'

Her grip on his hand tightened and she really just wanted to turn around and look at him. But she knew that in high school culture that wasn't really the politest thing to do in the middle of a conversation that she could not care less about.

Not when she only had Shag for three more months and then they'd be back to texting each other when they were free.

Next thing you know, the only interactions they'll be having will be when Facebook tells them to wish them a happy birthday on their timeline.

She shivered.

Deep down she always knew she was gonna have to live in a world without Shaggy eventually. And the reality of that hurt, a lot. Their relationship was doomed from the start but it was the happiest she'd ever been in a long time. This felt like something on fire, just being close to him sent sparks throughout her whole body. She was sure that if she had a whole lifetime with Shag that those sparks would never disappear. Their fire would probably never dim.

But they were gonna need to blow it out anyway.

She was sure that somehow Shag had carried on the conversation between them and the large group of well meaning but overly curious beefcakes.

Because she had been spaced out the for a good portion of it.

Eventually she was knocked out of it by the squeeze of Shaggy's hand and the sound of scattered goodbyes.

Daphne sent them all a smile before sighing and turning around to look back at the guy who set her skin on fire. But in a good way.

His eyes studied her for a few seconds before he said, _"Where are you Daph?"_

It almost made her wanna cry whenever he was able to pick up on her emotions. That was something she had never experienced before with anyone else, not even her family could sense something was wrong as quickly as he could.

But she didn't wanna just cry out of nowhere, they were supposed to be enjoying this last summer and she was over here worrying about what was beyond summer.

And that was something that didn't matter.

So she just wrapped her arms around his waist and pulled him into a hug, rest her head against his chest and listening to his heartbeat speed up.

" _I was in the future. I keep trying to stay away from it but…."_

She trailed off as she began to rub his back.

Him not saying anything signaled the start of a comfortable silence, one that told her he understood what she said.

She wondered how long she had been in love with him before she needed to literally kiss a panic attack out of him in order to realize it.

Her thoughts drifted back to the time the two of them had gotten lost in the mountains and ended up getting conned into wasting their whole summer catching a bunch of dumb, campy apparitions who seemed determined to keep their pointless freedom. Now that she was looking back at it, she was positive that they had been drugged or something because she also remembered Scooby and his little puppy nephew talking. Barely legible speech but still.

That was the first time Daph and Shag were just there on their own, no Fred, no Velma.

And it always felt strange because whenever she was with those two she felt like she treated him differently. Being around so many no-nonsense people dropped her tolerance for Shag and his "nonsense."

But just being alone with him for such a long time, she realized that she liked to be quiet around him and she liked the feeling of being understood in so little words.

She liked laughing when she felt stressed and overwhelmed.

She liked letting all of her emotions out without exploding in the process and hiding in piles of pillows.

She liked it when Shag's laughs were genuine and not absolutely riddled with fearful thoughts and nervous feelings. When he just acted like the Shag she had practically grown up with.

" _Daph?"_

" _Hmm?"_

She had closed her eyes, probably would be able to just fall asleep listening to his breathing. It was like some sort of white noise machine that her mom would play to make their pets calm down.

" _Like, you're probably not trying to crush my ribs and pop my eyeballs out but-"_

" _You are wrong foolish one. For that was my plan from the beginning."_

" _And like the simpleton I am I fell for your fiendish ways!"_

Daphne smiled and took small steps back, latching her eyes onto his and sending him a playful grin. He tilted his head and gave her a smirk, wincing as he knocked his head into the Mystery Machine a lot harder than he intended to.

They both laughed as Daph made a grab for his hands but missed as he lifted them to rub his head.

" _Did you hear that echo? Jesus Christ I hope that I don't suffer permanent damage from my own clumsy mistakes."_ He blushed as Daphne decided to just rest her hands on his hips if she couldn't have his hands. _"You and me both sir. Can you imagine all the recipes in that beautiful head just all burned to ashes? Criminal."_

He nodded and let his arms fall, his eyes looking off somewhere far away.

" _Could you imagine?"_

" _I can imagine a lot of things Shaggy."_

She eyed him up and down before grinning innocently.

He rolled his eyes and scoffed, a smile on his face _, "Lord Daph you're like a horny teenage boy at the most random times."_

" _Then what does that make you exactly?"_

" _Tired of his girlfriend."_

She beamed up at him, that was her new favorite word to hear.

" _A-Anyway, as I was say before this conversation went strangely sexual for some reason."_

" _You're welcome."_ Her heartbeat sped up at that, she felt like such a hypocrite. Was she really any different from those sophomores from earlier?

" _What would happen if any of us just, like lost all our memories? Of each other and our lives and stuff?"_ He looked down at her, not really seeming curious or invested in the question. Almost as if the answer didn't matter but he just wanted to think about the concept of memory loss.

Daphne bit her lip and looked down, this didn't sound like a fun conversation, _"I…..I'd like to think we'd all be there for each other."_ She hesitated for a second but his eyes seemed to want to hear what else she had to say, _"But-….maybe it wouldn't be a totally bad thing. Forgetting."_

Shag nodded and sighed.

" _Our past is what made us who we are Daph, if we lose that than…do we lose whatever form of a person we've just begun to assemble?"_

Another sigh, this time from her.

" _Memory loss isn't always like a reset button Shags. There are always things you're gonna just know. Like, like um- could you imagine forgetting how important food is to you?"_ He chuckled and shook his head. _"Or, um I can't escape the color purple. That's basically ingrained into my DNA at this point right?"_

" _You're my weird, purple alien."_

" _Damn straight!"_

With that, she brought her hands up to the strings hanging from his hoodie and tugged on them, pulling him down to her level.

Her lips lingered a few inches away from his, warm breath remained between them and there was anticipation in the air. She licked her lips before whispering, _"And I am always going to cherish this time with my shaggy dog."_

" _Thanks for comparing me to a dog, that's really the best thing you could say when all I wanna do is mash my face against yours."_

" _Noted."_

She felt like she was ready to explode, why the hell was she teasing him again?!

She could practically feel the perfect sensation of his lips but it was too easy. Why would the fates let these two kiss when a panic attack wasn't involved?

The ever-annoying trill of the local sign of death yet to come sounded from inside the school, signaling the day as over and all the local zombies were allowed to go home and spend the next six hours studying for tests that determined a little too much about them.

Poor bastards.

" _You know, missing classes to go play Ken and Barbie in the parking lot isn't probably the best way to spend the last few weeks of senior year."_

Velma hadn't looked up from her copy of "Much Ado About Nothing" as she scolded them for skipping a whole period. She was surprised she was the one doing the scolding and not Fred who seemed to actually care about these matters.

He just squinted as he looked for the exit to Daph's house and would sent her amused glances.

" _Like, you're right Velms. How am I ever gonna get into community college if I only completed classroom hours in playing with miniature, plastic models that were created to entertain children?"_ Velma rolled her eyes and kicked him in the shin from her spot across from him in the back.

Fred and Daphne, who were both sitting in the front, chuckled and looked at one another.

As Freddie signaled to take a turnaround he said, _"Shag I don't think you give yourself enough credit, you could definitely get into a better school than the local learning hole."_ Shaggy sighed, he had heard that sentence several different ways already.

" _Yeah Freddie, I know. I've listened to Mr. Tulsen's ranting. It'd be nice if we got like a patient guidance counselor."_

Daphne sent him a smile and the slight irritation he was feeling dissipated instantly.

'God I'm not sure New York is even ready for her.' He thought as he looked down at his fidgety hands.

" _I just…..don't really see the point in spending all the useless money I've earned over the years on a hit or miss. If I screw it up then I'll be broke and futureless."_ Daph visibly tensed up at this but just turned her attention back toward the road.

Velma shrugged, _"Honestly, I never thought you'd go to a regular college."_

Shaggy raised an eyebrow at her and she sighed, _"I always thought you'd go to trade school or fuckin' cosmetology school or some shit I don't know. Your hobbies had never been anything simple as collecting watches or reading every damn Shakespeare play from cover to cover."_

Daphne nodded _, "Yeah you've kinda done a little bit of everything Shags. You did gymnastics all through middle school and quit last year. Then you were like the star of the track and field team for one semester."_

" _Oh and you won all those cooking competitions back in sophomore year."_ Fred added.

Shag writhed, he wasn't sure if this was all supposed to be them flattering him or just reminding him of all the things he did to distract himself from his less than appealing lifestyle.

Daphne noticed his discomfort.

" _Shaggy,"_ His eyes met hers and she could tell he was asking for help, _"It's always gonna be your future, remember that."_ The breath was knocked from his lungs at the sight of her eyes, and that familiar glint.

But this time it was directed towards him, and that alone was mind-blowing.

" _Your choices, your expectations. And everyone's else's expectations mean fuck all. Even ours. And don't you ever forget that."_ Shag nodded rapidly, the glint was so damn intense he was sure that he was about to fall over.

Of course, Freddie was more than helpful with that by slamming on the breaks and sending both Shaggy and Velma crashing to the floor.

After the fun adventure of relocating Velma's lost glasses and her then whacking him in the head with her book for not even bothering to give them some warning. Daphne had smiled and they all chatted for a few minutes before she unbuckled and opened the passenger door, bidding them all her goodbyes. No doubt they were all probably gonna see each other again tonight to listen to police scanners and do homework.

Fred was about to turn the ignition to begin the journey to Shaggy's house next.

But then the back door opened and Daphne reappeared.

" _Oh wow look, it's returned."_ Velma made a sweeping gesture with her hands before crawling into the front seat next to Freddie.

Daph smirked, _"Yes indeed it has, and it intends to take a prisoner."_

" _Wait. What?"_

Shag didn't even have time to process her gripping onto his elbow and pulling him out of the van in one graceful move. He had been kidnapped by the Incredible Hulk disguised as his girlfriend.

Luckily, all Hulk wanted was to drag him toward their superb kitchen, if not a little excessive in the pink department.

" _Has anyone ever told you that Katy Perry is jealous of your kitchen?"_ He opened the fridge and observed the strangely overstocked area. There was a first _. "I bet she's also jealous that she doesn't have someone to make her the best omelets in the known universe."_ She opened the pantry and pulled out a basket full of fresh veggies she had bought that morning.

" _There should be a container of mushrooms in there, somewhere."_

" _Got it. I'll look for them, somewhere. Thanks for your help hon."_

" _I'm the gift that keeps on giving."_

One of the things Daph had discovered these past couple of weeks was that she absolutely adored cooking with Shaggy. In any other instance it would be the most excruciating and disastrous thing in the world thing in the world. But surprisingly, when it was with Shag everything became order filled and entertaining.

Whenever she had the chance, which wasn't often, she'd cook with him.

It felt amazing to just laugh as she failed again and again to properly crack an egg, Shag's poetic mockery only making her laugh harder.

" _You do know that the yolk and whites are supposed to go in the bowl right? Or do your cotton candy colored countertops act as some sort of gridle? Is that's what happening? Are you just punking me? Or do you genuinely suck at this?"_

The smile on his face made her heart leap and she looked back down at her yolky mess.

She felt his fingers brush through her hair and she smiled again.

" _How the actual hell did you get egg shell in your hair? You've turned these eggs into projectiles."_

" _I am a force to be reckoned with mortal one."_ She brushed her chaos off the counter and into the trashcan she had dragged next to them beforehand.

He picked another small piece of shell out of her hair and threw it in the trash, _"Yeah that's for damn sure."_

After a long struggle of giggles and almost losing digits to not knowing how to slice green onions there were two omelets elegantly displayed in front of them.

" _Aren't they just gorgeous?"_ Daphne said, absolutely giddy.

" _They're like two beautiful children we worked to hard to create, only to eat later."_ He sent her a playful smile and she shivered at the visual Shag had provided. _"I shall name one of them Leopold and the other shall be christened Julian."_

" _Shags, what the actual fuck are you talking about?"_ Daphne said as she handed him a fork.

" _I'm naming our omelet children, what else could I possibly be doing Daph?"_

" _Okay fair enough."_

Their trademarked comfortable silence arrived and they ate their miraculously delicious omelets quietly. She was surprised that even though she was barely helpful they came out perfect. Shags was truly magical.

" _Alright dears I've run out of aspirin so don't be surprised if I end up curled up in a ball on the floor in a puddle of my own vomit!"_

Shaggy jumped and dropped his fork at the loud outburst coming from just outside the room.

Daphne groaned and hid behind her hair.

She had forgotten that her mother had drunk herself to sleep last night and so she hadn't had the energy to go out and shop until 10 at night with her friends.

A pair of slippers began to trudge along the tiled floor and Daph prayed that her mother wasn't wearing one of her nightgowns that left little to the imagination. Naturally luck was not in her favor as she spotted black lace and sheer material. Instantly, her hands shot behind Shag and she reached up to cover his eyes.

Her mom's face seemed glazed and dull as she tried to piece together why there where two kids in her kitchen and why it smelled amazing in there.

After a few seconds she noticed that the shorter one was her daughter, either Daphne or Dawn.

She couldn't tell.

" _Why the fuck is there a leprechaun and a Jolly Green Giant in my kitchen?"_

" _Mom oh my Lord."_

" _And why does it smell so spectacular in here?"_

" _Seasoning. And the freshest onions a grocery store can offer."_ Shaggy joked as he seemed unphased by Daphne obstructing his vision.

Her mother slinked over, Daph rolled her eyes at the exaggerated swish of her hips. Happily married or not, Mrs. Blake would flirt with just about anyone, even if they were unable to see her flirtatious movements. And were also 18.

She leaned forward just a bit too much as she grabbed the fork Shag dropped. Each action being dragged out because she was hungover and trying to be attractive, and that takes some time.

After a few painful seconds of her taking a bite of the omelet and then letting out what she figured a seductive moan sounded like Daphne decided it was time to get her some water and get her the hell back to bed.

Shag closed his eyes and turned around as Daph began to steer her mother towards the master bedroom.

" _See you later Giant!"_

" _Indeed!"_

Daphne smiled as she opened the door and shoved her mom onto the king-sized bed. She then handed her the glass of water and placed a hand on her hip.

" _I thought my sisters already had this talk with you."_

Mrs. Blake just sipped the water innocently, _"What talk darling?"_

" _The_ _ **'don't walk around practically naked and flirt with my boyfriend'**_ _talk."_ Her mother raised her eyebrows and looked up as her daughter, _"The Giant is your boyfriend now? So you're done with that Jones dumpster fire?"_

Daphne rolled her eyes, _"No mommy, he's still my friend."_

Her shoulder's slumped in disappointment.

And then the corners of her mouth curled up _, "Is he a keeper?"_

" _What do you mean by that? If you're asking if he's rich his parents are the Rogers, who we both know are totally loaded."_

Her mother snorted as she took another gulp of the water, it was then that Daphne realized that her mouth was smudged with red lipstick. She wasn't sure how she missed that in the well-lit kitchen but noticed it in the dim bedroom.

" _No honey, I'm askin if he's the kind of guy who will keep you happy, without me needing to worry about suing him for emotional trauma."_ Daph giggled as she hugged herself.

" _I've known that Giant since I was 6 years old, and the only thing he's ever done to hurt me is get himself hurt. I think I'll be fine."_

She was silent for a few seconds as her mom nodded and placed the glass down on the bed next to her.

Daphne then immediately picked it up and placed on the nightstand to prevent clear disaster.

" _But….it's gonna be over as soon as I go to New York."_ That stung.

" _Hmm."_ She replied sleepily, _"Then you better tell him you love him before that happens."_

Daph's heart skipped a beat and her chest felt warm. That'd be a nice way for this fire to be blown out.

" _You can borrow one of my nighties when you do it."_

" _Mom oh my fucking lanta….."_


	9. Chapter 9

" _ **I didn't say it back…."**_

He's not just crying right now.

He's shaking in her arms.

Not just hands that he can hide.

All of him.

And she doesn't even know what state she's in right now.

But she feels dry and tired and afraid.

She's hugging him tight and whispering things to him quietly, but she's not ever sure what she's saying to him. Looking back. Daph was pretty sure that she was just humming reassuringly into is ear. Which she doubt helped all that much.

" _Are you sure you're alright Shags?"_

Her voice was raspy and out of nowhere. Breaking a silence that could've been lasting hours for all she knew, she didn't bother to look at the clock.

Shaggy let out a shaky breath and brought his hands up to rub his eyes, she quickly grabbed them and pulled them down. He raised his eyebrows at her, she stared at his red and puffy eyes and bit her lip before saying, _"It's not good to rub your eyes..."_

" _Fantastic.."_

He sighed again and looked down at the foot of the bed.

Scooby was laying there loyally.

The dog, realizing that Shag's episode had subsided, shuffled over and licked his hands.

Daphne smiled and scratched behind the sweet dog's ears.

" _He's one hell of therapist this one."_ She said jokingly.

She heard him laugh softly next to her, _"Scoob's been helping me out with this stuff for a long time."_

Her heart lurched, she nodded.

Grip on his hand tightening.

" _How long?"_

" _Since middle school I guess."_

She bit her lip and looked down at her lap.

He pulled his hand from her grasp and brought it up to her shoulder, rubbing it gently, _"Daph, like it's not that big a deal. Thi- I'm used to all this."_

She nodded, _"I'm not...haaa- I... I wish I knew a lot sooner. Like years ago. When it started."_ Daph looked up and bravely met beautiful brown eyes, the moonlight giving everything an eerie filter, surprised she hadn't broken down into a sobbing mess. Maybe because she knew he didn't wanna ever have that sort of effect on her.

Swallowing, she smirked up at him, _"I guess I'm gonna have to if we keep doing this."_

He blushed and smiled, just barely rolling his eyes.

Daph was fairly certain her parents had yet to notice her absence yet and if they did, she knew they would hardly panic. Maybe poke curiously at her when she came home in the morning.

" _Daphne, I doubt Fred would approve of us bunking together."_

She giggled and rested her head against his chest.

Scooby let out a whine and turned around, having no reason to be involved in their weird flirting.

Both of them watched silently as the fed up creature jumped off Shag's bed.

" _Look what you did Shag! You scared off the majestic creature forever!"_

" _Aw shit.. there go my chances of getting into community college..."_

He yawned and she hated how she thought it was really cute. She knew Velma would gag and elbow Daph if she ever admitted that.

Shaggy was probably becoming the center of her universe and it was making looking at her acceptance letter that was hanging on the wall in her bedroom all the more painful. As if it was taunting her, reminding her everything was temporary.

Ending this all wouldn't be as simple as ripping off a band-aid anymore.

Ripping a band-aid off and pulling hair up from her skin would be downright pleasant compared to having to break up with Shaggy.

At this point, it'd be more like someone plunging a drill into her heart and forcing her to listen to it pop.

Listen to it break.

That was why she spent almost thirty minutes searching around Shaggy's absolute monster of a backyard, trying to remember where sophomore them had hidden the ladder that was tall enough to reach a third story.

She heard him scream when she knocked on his window, smiling at the chipped paint on the sill.

" _Daphne what the actual hell are you doing here?"_

His hair was just as mussed up and messy as normal. His voice tired and deep.

She liked it.

As he pulled her over the sill and into his dark room she said, _"I came to rescue my prince from his multi-million dollar tower."_ Running her hands up his chest and wrapping them around his neck, she pulled herself in to hug him.

As he wrapped his arms around her torso he replied, _"So my girlfriend, The Incredible Hulk, found that absolute relic that must weigh like four-hundred pounds and slammed it against my house?"_

" _Yes she did."_ Daph whispered into the crook of his neck.

He shivered and nodded, not saying anything.

Feeling that eventual calm she got from being close to him she had said, _"It was taunting me."_

" _What was taunting you?"_

" _My fucking framed acceptance letter to NYU. It's cackling and reminding me what's gonna happen to us in August..."_

He squeezed her tightly, a signal for her to shoosh.

She swallowed the lump that showed up the second she began to rant.

" _E-Every time I close my eyes that stupid piece of paper becomes a strobe light. It hurts to sleep..."_

She was whispering now.

Watching the goosebumps rise on the back of his neck.

He was listening to every word she said, and it was leaving him breathless.

And it only made her heart speed up tenfold.

She was playing with his hands as they sat on the edge of the bed, taking turns rubbing Scoob's stomach with their feet.

" _Have any other princesses ever come into this tower before?"_

There she went again, asking questions she knew the answer to.

He chuckled, _"Velms sometimes, but we kinda didn't like touching each other all that much so..."_

She smiled, realizing that they really did have a default of touching one another. They survived and thrived off of physical contact even though that wasn't a defining characteristic for either of them. Running hands through hair and threading fingers together.

Lots of hugging and caressing and pecking.

And it was just so...

Casual.

Neither of them made a big deal of it or felt it was too excessive.

They both just knew what they were comfortable with and they knew when to do it.

This was where they were.

Who they are.

" _People are probably gonna find out about this..."_

Shag giggled, _"Cheerleaders have eyes and ears everywhere."_ Daph smiled down at their hands, _"They're not gonna say we were just sleeping..."_ She looked up at him, his eyes were solemn and understanding.

" _It doesn't matter, never has Daph..."_

He reached over and brushed some hair out of her face, she grabbed his hand again and kept it there.

" _All that matters is you Daph, remember that."_

She had kissed him again, in the dark with nobody around.

There was no tongue or biting, seeing as they were both too terrified to even dare that.

They bumped noses and Daphne started laughing as soon as their lips met.

But it was good all the same.

Daphne turned on her phone to check what time it was.

3 A.M.

At this point sleep was kind of forgotten.

Currently she was sitting on the floor next to Scooby, petting his head. Shag was sitting behind her on the foot of the bed, putting her hair into a bun par her request. Leaning back, she stopped when her back hit his knees.

" _Do you remember when Rebecca Marners kissed me in the gym so she'd win homecoming queen?"_

Shaggy laughed.

" _She knew that guys would do anything to see girls kissing huh? Cheated the system at like...damn I was like, fifteen at the time."_ She smiled, _"Did you like that little show?"_

" _Nah, food was the only thing that really caught my eye. Still rings some sort of truth, but you're also here now."_

She giggled, feeling her cheeks heat up.

" _That was my first kiss. Legitimate kiss anyway."_

" _What constitutes a legitimate kiss dear?"_

" _Just... you know..."_

" _Actually I don't think I do. Kinda spent high school being a social outcast remember?"_

Daphne snorted, that was a total lie. Shag may not fit in with jocks and cheerleaders but he had no difficulty warming up to people and befriending them. He would bump fists and high five people in the hallway. He could walk up and steal somebody's water bottle and ask them about how their sick little sister was doing.

He wasn't popular in the way society regarded him, he still got a tough time from the people who saw him as easy pickings.

But he was kind.

And he was funny.

And he cared about people.

That was all it took.

She sighed, _"Well... everyone always say that it doesn't count as a kiss if it happened before you're thirteen."_

He laughed again and snapped his fingers, she handed her hair tie up to him.

" _I see... So your first kiss was really with Freddie."_

She blinked.

That's right.

It was.

She was ten, and they played Spin the Bottle at some girl's birthday party. And they maintained eye contact, Fred's lack of fear in kissing her starting a chain reaction. She had a crush on him for so many years because of his brave face.

She remembered that night she had jumped for the home phone and called Shaggy, giving him every little detail she could recall off the top of her head.

And Shaggy simply said, _"So you're in love with Fred now?"_

And she giggled, _"I guess so..."_

" _Question."_

Shaggy said as he handed her a slice of his emergency cold pizza.

" _Exactly when did you realize you were sweet on me?"_ Daphne rolled her eyes and waited for him to sit in the chair next to her before resting her legs on his lap. They were now sitting across his room in the two ratty recliners his parents had thrown up there.

' _When you made me take off my shoes at that stupid dance and then stepped on my toes every other second."_

He smiled and took a bite of the triangle of happiness.

She tangled her toes together and decided to answer him.

It's 3:30 A.M. and their eating cold pizza together.

What does she have to lose?

" _I have been sweet on you since that dance though..."_ He looked away from his food, something that impressed her. _"I was way too stupid to agree with that. I figured it was just hormones and all the fun stuff."_ He smiled.

" _But...when I kissed you...that's when it all changed..."_

She looked into his eyes and knew that he understood.

He knew which kiss.

He knew what changed.

Seeing his comprehension, realizing how much he understood her, it all made her so brave.

So she kept going.

" _I knew that I needed you, always have. You made me smile and experience happy crying. You helped me remember I'm not crazy, that I'm not my space case parents. That I did a good job of making myself happy. I-... I could never feel brave without you reminding me just how to be brave."_ It almost looked like he wasn't blinking, that he was holding his breath as she spoke.

Eyes never leaving her.

" _I've always thought you were perfect Shags. People label Fred and I as the perfect ones and I always just wanna scream and point the spotlight at you and say, 'Look at this beautiful person! Look at his brave hands and his loud laughs!' I wanted more than anything for you to realize, I never thought I deserved you."_

Was she crying?

Didn't matter.

She was standing up now, pizza forgotten.

And to her absolute shock, he followed her. Pizza being the furthest thing from his mind.

He never stopped her, he just took a step forward and grabbed onto her hands.

He hated being complimented, he never though he was worth that. But he knew she needed to say this. The way her eyes glimmered told him so. Those stars telling him to let her speak.

" _God Shag... I- I am so messed in the head. I was in love with a guy for almost 8 years because of one kiss. All I needed was attention to feel better. I was so terrible to girls that liked him. As if I was the only one with a right to him."_

She couldn't shut up even if she wanted to.

" _I claw and bite and you smiled and it hurts to think that I waited so long to reach out and grab you because I was too damn busy growling out to Fred."_

She figured now she was crying, because his speechless face became blurry and her rushed ramblings became more blubbering than talking. Daphne squeezed his hands and finally decided it was a lost cause to try and talk.

He had no hair to brush out of her face, so he took the risk and rested his forehead against her's.

Not exactly sure where to go from there.

" _ **C'est ça, l'Amour,"**_

Daphne smiled brightly, _"I love this song."_

Shaggy raised an eyebrow, _"This is from Cinderella ain't it?"_

She nodded brightly and turned up the volume on her phone, "It's the French version because of course I of all people would prefer French to original."

"Yeah damn what freakin' hipster." She rolled her eyes.

Daph hummed along softly and they both stared out different windows, watching the moonlight, slowly fading.

" _ **Le grand Amour! L'Amour qui fait chanter la vie."**_

Turning away, Daph stared at Shaggy's profile.

He really was haunting in this moonlight. She never thought she'd find a person nearly as beautiful as she found Shaggy.

He blinked and it felt like it happened in slow motion.

She really did have it bad didn't she?

" _ **Là dans tes bras,"**_

She got up from her seat, treading softly on the carpet. Stopping right in front of him and relishing in she way he looked up at her. The emotions in his eyes sending shivers up her back.

" _ **Je sais déjà..."**_

" _What's up Doc?"_

He said it with the intent to joke. But the tone of his voice was low and breathless. The only way he could properly react to Daphne Blake with her hair tied back in a bun with moonlight shining from behind her frame. Sporting a baggy purple sweater and dark green shorts.

Almost like a dream, that's what she seemed to be.

She reached a hand down toward him, long purple nails grazing the back of his hand.

" _I'm taking off my shoes and dancing with you..."_

That phrase made him weak and he was effortlessly pulled to his feet.

They stared into each other's eyes for a few seconds, chest to chest and afraid to even breathe and end the moment.

" _ **Je sais déjà ..."**_

Gazes locked, Daph began to step backward and caused the moon to illuminate her face. They both gave each other the same look, as if seeing a perfect work of art. Biting her lip, Daphne decided that doing an actual dance would force her to become to distracted.

So she wrapped her arms around his neck and began to sway.

He instantly wrapped his arms around her and swayed along, bringing that familiar lulling back and forth.

She began to hum again and rested her head against his chest.

Silence for another few seconds and then she felt him squeeze her closer to him.

" _My nightmares used to be all the same..."_

She said nothing and nodded against his chest, making sure he knew she was listening.

" _It was always me dying, sometimes on repeat. The mask of the week killing me but not letting me die- wanting to have more fun out of me or something..."_

" _ **...Que mon bonheur est infini!"**_

" _I got used to it after a few months. When my parents started asking about all the noise I was making in here so late at night. I kinda learned to deal so they wouldn't get mad."_

" _ **Mon coeur s'affole,"**_

" _They never really go away but... coffee helped me deal with the whole lack of sleep and what not."_

" _ **Et je m'envole."**_

" _It was like I went numb. Like when your fucking foot falls asleep or something, but it was my head. I'd be shaken awake every once and a while and just, didn't bother to fall asleep again."_

" _ **Je danse sous une pluie d'étoiles."**_

" _So that... healthy lifestyle went on for a pretty long time. And I dealt with it like the angsty loser I am."_

" _ **Tu es ce que j'attendais,"**_

" _But then you kissed me... a-and it was like someone pushed the rewind button and I knew I had never been more terrified in my life. Like the whole idea of something happening to you, that brought the screaming back I guess."_

" _ **Tu es mon rêve fou!"**_

She was crying into his shirt.

Had she known that sneaking into Shag's room late at night would result in so many tears, would she have not bothered coming?

Pondering it for only a second before deciding nothing could keep her from him.

" _I- ... I didn't want you to know, like ever. Because you never cause me pain Daph."_

He stepped back and cupped her cheeks, seeing that his eyes were tearing up only made her whimper.

God she may have been bawling and whining and her nose was probably running, but she still felt so strong when she looked up into his eyes and listened to him speak.

" _No distance is going to change how safe you make me feel Daphne."_

She nodded, unable to say anything.

" _What I'm trying to tell you..."_

His cheeks went red and he pulled her into a hug, not sure he could say it while staring into those glistening eyes.

" _ **C'est ça, l'Amour!"**_

" _I am so in love with you Daphne..."_


	10. Chapter 10

" _ **Everything's changed..."**_

It's a grainy image, the room she's in.

She definitely felt the prick of a lovely syringe that she was just gonna assume was properly cleaned and sanitized.

Tetanus needed to be the last thing on her mind.

If she _could_ keep anything on her mind, at the moment she could barely focus on breathing and the pitch black of the room was ironically overloading her senses.

Her head lulled back and forth as she tried to look around, ignoring the voice in her mind telling her to close her eyes for a few minutes.

Even a few seconds.

But it was so tempting.

Though her body was unnaturally contorted due to the wonderful rope binding her legs and arms, she felt comfortable. Almost safe.

But she had to keep screaming that she wasn't, nothing about this was safe.

Her captors had yet to make an appearance to her, and that brought her hope that they had only taken her as a bargaining chip. And not some sort of plaything for their minds. She felt more like crying than analyzing the criminal's intentions with her and the rest of Coolsville.

But she continued to bite her tongue and tried and think about _something_.

Anything.

And of course her mind would travel to him.

Those gentle brown eyes talking calmly down to her, drawing her out of her fear and to him. Her pulse began to slow and all she could hear was her own struggled breathing, looking into the nothingness and spotting maybe six different horrifying sets of eyes and shapes moving throughout it.

She began to scream, even though she knew they were all in her drugged up head.

She screamed and called out for him, he had to be somewhere in there.

He'd run over and hug her, and get these damn ropes off so that she could wrap her arms around him.

"I love you too."

It echoed in the room and back in her face.

She really wanted to cry now, or maybe she was already crying - she wasn't really sure if she was being honest. The blurred vision could be caused by any number of things, concussion from being banged around by men in masks came to mind first.

Or the drugs that were plainly effecting her psyche.

Crying shouldn't be the reason everything had become clouded over.

He would blame himself if she was crying.

A shaky sigh passed her lips and she began to whisper those same words he said to her all those months ago.

" _Daph, no matter what you do you're gonna remember it. For the rest of your life you're gonna remember this. But just know that we'll be remembering with you, and we'll always be here for you. You know that right?"_

"Where are you?"

All of these words meaning nothing, simply bouncing off of empty walls.

"It's that guy." Velma deadpanned, not even bothering to look up from her book.

"Velma!" Fred elbowed her in the arm, earning a glare, "That's rude Velms, we shouldn't assume anything.."

Shag cut in, walking up in between them and looking down at Fred with a nervous chuckle, "Like, Freddie - has Velma _ever_ been wrong about these things before?"

Fred huffed, "He's the first person we've met so far."

"And he just choked on his own cackle as he showed us the totally-not-suspicious barn thing. Your point?" Velma turned the page, nearly crashing into the tilted mailbox in front of her. Thankfully, Shag noticed and grabbed onto her shoulders and successfully steered her out of the way. Pushing her a few feet ahead of Freddie in the process, "Like, can y'all go a few minutes without bickering about the guy that's gonna try and kill us later?!"

Daphne picked up the pace so that she was in stride with Fred who was sporting a very mature pout, she giggled.

"Velma Dinkley is the only person in the known universe that can actually rile Fred Jones up..." Fred crossed his arms in response to her statement, childishly scowling ahead.

She smiled and brought her attention to the pair in front of them, sending Shag's hands a brief glance before directing her attention to the back of his head.

He was engaging Velms in some sort of conversation from what she could see.

Hopefully something along the lines of, "Stop teasing Freddie every chance you get so we can get through this mystery quickly."

To be fair, Fred had said that her and Shaggy didn't need to come - perfectly aware of the bad things they were both dealing with due to the very thing they were doing now.

But, to her surprise, Shag had said, "You must be outta your damn mind if you think we ain't coming."

Daphne nodded in agreement to that, not sure where it came from.

He answered her questions later that day when he came over to help her pack her belongings in boxes, "Daph this is gonna be our last mystery together as a gang... I- I just know this is really important to Fred. Like, we've always been together through the hard stuff and now we're going off on our own. Might as well end it how we started it..."

She had smiled and hugged him, nuzzling into his collarbone and calling him a big softie.

He chose not to rub in the fact that she was the pot calling the kettle black, not really wanting her to stop embracing him.

Of course, as always, Daph's mom burst in asking her if she had the number for their 'grass guy.' Shag couldn't bring himself to ever ask her what the hell a grass guy is, or does. It would take him years to learn and understand all of the Blake family absurdities.

Years he didn't have.

And so there they were, one last time, at their final creepy farm complaining about crop circles and animals going missing.

A reminder of bad times.

Men far stronger than them yelling that they'd find where they live and snuff everything out.

Getting tied up and locked in cellars.

Having to fire a weapon with the intent to harm, the intent to kill.

But it was a reminder of something good too.

Four kids and a dog who never would have found each other were it not for all the bad things in their lives to happen.

And as meddling kids became unsure adults, they found something truly precious in looking back on the bad times and seeing all the amazing things woven in with them.

A panic attack smothered by a kiss that changed everything.

Shaking hands brought forth tighter grips.

And tears lead to group hugs and promises to always be there for each other.

While it wasn't a realistic and truthful promise, it was such a gigantic leap of faith and meant the world to all of them.

And so, of course, Shaggy and Daphne came along.

"Right... so over the course of several weeks Jonathan Halloway has reported over a dozen livestock as missing or stolen. Although the guy hasn't bothered to point any fingers." Velma pushed her glasses up and crossed her arms as she got all her thoughts out of her head.

All of them had gathered on the front porch of Mr. Halloway's farm-house, Velms had sat up on the railing and Freddie took a spot leaning next to her.

His face screwed in concentration as he listened to her words.

Shag and Daph sat on the stairs, hips glued together and fingers weaved.

Scooby was having a grand old time chasing around the flock of chickens that congregated in front of the house.

"And because of course Halloway's wife is one of Fred's million cousins, we're now here to figure out which one of their neighbors wants their property or something." Velma's tone was thick with attitude, irked that Fred wasn't letting her accuse the most obvious suspect.

"But why would anyone want John's land?" Freddie replied, giving Velms a pensive look.

Velma groaned, a tad exaggerated but it was what the rest of the gang was feeling. "Freddie you _always_ ask that question and at the end of the day it all boils down to people being greedy assholes that like to take matters into their own hands."

Shaggy nodded and added in, "Yeah, like that's usually how it turns out Freddie."

Daph giggled as Fred gave them a pouty look, knowing he was just trying to make things interesting.

Velma looked at him for a couple of seconds before sighing and taking off her glasses to rub her face, "Okay, okay, I'll humor you. It's safe to assume there is something in the cornfield that our mask wants, and the animal snatching is just to keep people off their trail. The cops all think that it's just some kids pulling a prank so clearly our mask's plan is working. Satisfied?"

Fred's childish pout melted away, transforming into a bright smile as he leaned over and hugged her tight.

Daphne smirked and raised an eyebrow at Velma's red cheeks, to which Velms presented the middle finger to shut her down. That didn't stop Shag from nudging her and giving her the same look, earning a giggle and a nod from Daph.

"Freddie - my.. - my arms are falling asleep.."

Fred quickly let go and apologized, an oblivious grin on his face.

One that Daph was very familiar with.

Although, Velma might be way more thankful for it than she ever was.

After that beautifully awkward moment between friends, Fred took a step away from the railing and gave the gang his plan of attack. "Alright, I think the first thing we should do is split up."

"Glad to see you shaking things up Fred." Shaggy said, squeezing tightly onto Daph's hand.

Hopefully them splitting up together would keep their anxieties at ease.

"Daph, you and Velma are gonna investigate the cornfield. Shag and I will check out the barn where the animals keep disappearing."

"Oh...uh..." Shag and Daph locked eyes for a second, trying to hide the clear disappointment on their faces. "Freddie we were... kinda hoping that... uuuhhh.." Velma let out a snicker before saying, "Oh please, if you two go off together than you're just gonna end up tangling tongues instead of finding clues."

Daphne stuttered out an incoherent response, face completely red, while Shag sent Velma a glare and rolled his eyes.

Knowing she had already succeeded at getting under Daph's skin.

"So," Fred said matter-of-factly.

"So..." Shag replied slowly, watching Velma guide a flustered Daphne toward the fields.

"Do you and Daph really do all of the things Velma says you do?" Shaggy tore his gaze away from red hair and raised an eyebrow, clearly wondering if Freddie was serious.

"I - I'm only asking because I know everything Velms says needs to be taken with a grain of salt.." Fred bit his lip and looked away from Shaggy's quizzical stare, his cheeks just barely dusted pink.

Shag sighed, "Well I don't really think Daph is comfortable with me giving any of that stuff away. And, like I don't know what Velma's been telling you but I can confirm that no, we do not do the things Velma says we're doing." Fred nodded, still not looking at him.

Shaggy's eyebrows furrowed and he continued, "Like, Freddie, Daph and I dating doesn't make you uncomfortable does it?"

Fred was silent for a few minutes and Shag was afraid that he had hit the nail right on the head.

"It doesn't make me uncomfortable in the way that you probably think it does..."

Letting out a relieved sight, Shaggy nodded and waited for Fred to say more.

He took his time, but eventually Fred resumed, "I guess I'm just confused... that I never saw it coming. And when it started happening right in front of my eyes, it just happened so fast." He chuckled, "You know, I never realized just how much attention Daphne gave me until all she could ever look at was you..."

Now that made Shag blush.

"And then, the night you and Daph started going out, I didn't get a single text or phone-call from her." Fred looked down at his shoes as they walked, "Daphne had called me every night for almost eight years without fail, and now she had vanished from a party and hadn't given me so much as a goodnight text."

Shag didn't know why, but the first thought that came to his mind was the phone-call he had with Daph when she arrived at the astounding conclusion that she was in love with Fred Jones.

"Look Shags, you and Daphne are two of my best friends and I never wanna see either of you hurt by someone. I don't even know what I'd do if you were hurt by each other."

"You could beat us both up." Shag said with a smile.

Fred reciprocated it.

"You make her happier than any other guy ever has Shags. I never thought I'd get to see her this happy."

Shaggy now realized than anytime anyone brought up how much _the_ Daphne Blake cared about him, his face was gonna go red and he was gonna lose all basic speech functions.

After traveling through the waves of embarrassment, Shaggy prepared to disclose the most precious information he would ever hold.

' _I love her.'_

"I-"

He didn't get to finish that sentence, seeing as he was interrupted by the tell-tale scream of Danger-Prone Daphne.

He spotted Velma sprawled out on the ground, a sizable lump forming on her forehead.

Her glasses were cracked and on the ground beside her.

"Velma!" Fred exclaimed as her ran over to her and helped the dazed girl sit up.

Shag noted that his breathing had become panicked as he looked around for any sign of bright-red hair or purple go-go boots.

"Whe- Where is she?"

He looked down at Velma, who still didn't seem totally there, squinting and and trying to orient herself. She was barely in a good enough state to stand, much less answer his pressing question.

So, he let his legs force him into the the endless walls of corn, desperately looking for any sign of the purple girl.

To no avail it seemed as he had been screaming her name and running around in the damn cornfield for who knows how long. His voice was all but gone and he was totally out of breath from the constant state of movement he had been in.

But he wasn't gonna stop.

There was no way Daph was not alive and well.

Cornfields are huge and easy to get lost in.

Any second now he'd see a flash of purple and then he'd squeeze her so tight that she'd have no choice but to stay put.

To stay safe.

He didn't even notice the sun setting in the sky until someone had him by the back of his shirt, finally forcing him to stop moving.

Turning back to see just who had gotten him and surprised to see Velma.

Her bruised face was decorated with fear and illuminated by a dying sun.

She suddenly stepped away from him, totally taken aback by the pure anger in Shaggy's eyes. In the near decade she had known him, she had _never_ seen him look as mad as he was right now.

And it scared her more than the thing that took Daphne.

Because that was just a coward hiding behind a mask.

This... this was all Shaggy, and it was _real_.

Something inside told her to run while she still could, but then she spotted his lip quivering and then she remembered who this was.

And she realized he was probably ten-times more terrified than she was.

So she couldn't leave him alone, taking a step forward again and wrapping her arm around him, something he accepted with no struggle. She heard his breath catch in his throat before he started to sob into her shoulder.

He was stunned that Velms of all people was letting him cry like a baby and get her cardigan wet.

Comfort wasn't exactly her area.

But God, he knew he needed to get all of this out now because Daph hated it when he cried, she couldn't stand to see him hurting.

So he might as well let all the sobs and panic attacks out now.

"Sh- Shaggy.. they took her alive... there were two of them. Both men not much taller than Daph.."

As he continued to bawl, Velma provided every detail she could think of, anything she could remember in such a fast moment.

Very grateful to hear Fred's voice coming up behind her. So thankful that he was safe too.

This was the first time her captors had entered the room while she was semi-conscious.

Granted, they were wearing scarecrow masks and hadn't said a word, but that didn't stop her from attempting to discern any clue. Maybe the way they walked would ring a bell, or she'd be able to recognize a simple tick.

Unfortunately, she was still too out of it to focus on anything besides the blinding light in her face.

She heard the *click* from the shutter of a camera and that basic sound was finally able to push her to form a cohesive thought.

'Probably ransom photos.'

Shockingly, Velma was probably right about the culprit(s) wanting Mr. Halloway's land for something.

'What if Shaggy sees these?'

She began to cry at the thought of him seeing her like this.

'I hope his hands aren't shaking.'

That thought only made her cry harder, because now she wasn't there with him to hold his shaking hands.

The *clicks* proceeded for several minutes, all the while Daph's quiet sobs had evolved into shrieking howls as she begged the men in masks to let her go.

"He needs me! Please - Please I'm begging you! Let me go back to him!"

She could barely take a breath through her sobs but she didn't stop, her brain had dropped a brick on the gas pedal and she was about to go careening off a ledge.

But before she could reach the edge, she felt a prick in the side of her neck and the blinding light was off.

Once again, the room was empty and all she could hear was her whispers bouncing back to her against blank, cold walls.

"I'm sorry I didn't say it back."

And then, everything went black

Shag had spent the first couple of days Daphne had been missing doing research on the Halloway land and the Halloway family itself.

While he stayed on the living room floor with papers sprawled out all around him, Fred and Velma investigated neighbor after neighbor. Shag figured they had looked into anyone that lived within a fifteen-mile radius of the property.

So far, they had come up empty.

Most of the folks that lived out here were elderly couples that didn't have any reason chase the Halloway's off their land.

And Velms had stated that while all of these farms had plenty of hands that could have snatched them, none of them were the size or build of the duo that had attacked them.

But the gang refused to lose hope, knowing full-well that Daph would never.

At the one week mark of Daph's vanishing, Fred had come into the living room were Shag was shoving Skittles in his mouth while examining the property's insurance again.

It was around one in the A.M. and all three of them were still up, trying to stay quiet for the sake of the sleeping couple upstairs.

Scoob had hidden himself in the corner of the barn and refused to come out as soon as he understood that Daphne was gone.

Meaning Shaggy was usually all alone in the farm-house.

"Velma's making another pot of coffee and then she says she wants to look at the hiring history for the farm hands here again.."

Shag nodded and leaned forward to pick up the documents she was referring to, resting them on the couch behind him. There were dark lines under his eyes from pulling a week's worth of all-nighters. Although, Fred figured they all looked like that.

"Listen, Shag I'm so sorry about all this..."

Shaggy looked up at him, a confused look on his face, "Like, why are you sorry? I'm the one that's forcing you to be stuck in a van with Velma all day." He gave Fred a tired grin as he leaned against the couch.

Fred laughed in response and took a seat on the floor across from him, being careful not to step on any of the papers he had spread out all over the place.

"No, I- ... I'm sorry that I forced you and Daphne to come on another mission when you two are still recovering from the Andrews and McCall cases..." He had never seen Shaggy come crumbling down that hard, just the sight of that was weighing on his mind and becoming heavier by the day.

He was never one for bottling up his emotions and now that he was finally doing it he had to say, it sucked.

He had been dragging Shaggy along on these missions since they were kids, and had never realized just how badly they got to him until Daphne had been snatched up from a damn cornfield.

And he had called himself Shaggy's best friend a few days ago...

Hah!

Now he barely felt worthy to be called Shaggy's acquaintance.

Shockingly, Shag replied with a snort as he leaned forward and clasped his hands together, "Freddie, Daph and I agreed to come of our own free will, because, as terrifying as our past experiences are, this is always who we've been."

Fred gaped at him, at a loss for words.

So Shag kept going, "Sure I may have some complaints about your methods, but I can say I don't have any regrets. I got to do more with my life in high school than most teenagers can. And it's mostly thanks to you and Velma... and Daphne."

Shaggy looked down at his hands and sighed, reaching up to rub the back of his neck.

"I was gonna tell her as soon as we got home..."

Fred stared at him curiously, "Tell her what?" He said.

"Do you remember that bake sale we helped out with in New York?"

Fred thought about it for a second before saying, "Yeah I think so.."

That was good enough for Shag to go on, "Well, apparently a representative of the ICI was there and was really impressed with my skill, or something."

Fred gave him a blank look before Shag's face lit up, "Oh sorry, uh the ICI is the International Culinary Institution." Freddie's eyes widened and he stood up in surprise, "You're going to a world-renowned culinary school?!""

"I'm sorry, Shaggy's what now?"

The boys both turned toward the entry to the living room to see Velma carrying a tray with three mugs of coffee.

Fred bounded over to her with excitement in his voice as he explained, "Shaggy's not going to community college!"

The shock on Velma's face left Shag feeling a little insulted.

"Like, I've said this a thousand times - there is _nothing_ wrong with not being totally in debt-" Shag was cut off by Velma grabbing his shoulders and shaking him viciously, "So my uncle actually contacted you about the scholarship?!"

Shaggy stared at her before a scowl formed on his face, "I knew it! I knew this had something to do with you!"

Velma was grinning ear to ear and it was enough to distract from the dark bags under her eyes. "Shaggy, you finally find the love of your fucking life and expect me to not meddle?!"

Shag frowned, "But how the hell am I supposed to know I earned it if you meddle?"

Velma scoffed and rolled her eyes, walking back over to Fred who was now holding the tray, "I barely meddled in anything, if I was gonna re-tell the events accurately I'd say my uncle demanded your contact information and I casually brought up scholarships and how nice they are."

She grabbed a mug from the tray and took a sip, "Oh and I also made all three of these the same way so if you don't like it then too bad."

Shag stared at her in shock for a few minutes before saying, "You promise you're not bull-shitting me?"

Velma held up her hand while taking another sip from her mug.

Fred jumped in and said, "That means 'Scout's honor'."

Shag nodded, he couldn't chase away the smile that was forming on his face.

There was about a ten minute difference between the NYU campus and the ICI.

Ten minutes as opposed to over thirty hours.

Now if only they could find her and make those ten minutes a reality.

All three of them jumped and Shag let out a yelp as they heard the doorbell ring, they exchanged weary glances before all making their way to the front door.

Shaggy dashing in front of them the moment he saw the envelope fall through the mail slot. Bending down, he picked it up - his breathing heavy and shaky as he examined it. No address was written, just the word, "Halloway."

Fred only needed to take one quick look at it before he unlocked the front door and ran out, desperate to find their late-night visitors.

With trembling hands, Shaggy reluctantly tore open the envelope.

The first thing he saw was enough to make him completely lose his balance, dropping the letter on the floor and leaning against the wall. He was hyperventilating now and no matter how hard he tried to focus, he couldn't manage a deep breath.

"Holy shit..." Velma said quietly, she had picked up the envelope and was reviewing the contents.

Absolutely horrified to see several crude photos of a bound Daphne, her cheeks shiny with tears and glazed over eyes. She was doped up somewhere and as she tried to examine the surroundings of the picture Velma found her eyes tearing up out of frustration.

Why did it have to be this case out of the hundreds they had worked on, why did this one have to be the hardest?

She stopped at a picture of what looked like Daph screaming out.

And they hadn't even heard her..

Finally, she reached a letter.

"These bastards are gonna ask for land aren't they."

Once again, Velma was right.

As she re-read the letter over and over again, the only clear thing she could pick up was that they wanted the Halloways to leave the property. Otherwise, they'd do who knows what to "the girl."

"Damn it!"

She threw the letter on the ground and ran her hands through her hair, ready to pull it all out.

"Wha... What do- do they..." Shag was trying to speak but his mind couldn't form a single thought that wasn't interrupted by a loud "Daphne!"

"They want the Halloways to leave the damn farm in exchange for Daphne. Actually, I - I don't even think they mean 'in exchange' so much as they mean 'we won't hurt her.'"

Shag choked on his words again before bursting out, "You mean to tell me in those pictures she isn't hurt?!"

Before Velma could answer, Fred came running up the porch and Shag slid down to the floor.

"They vanished over the hill on the other side of the road."

"Of course they fucking did!" Velma turned around and stomped back to the living room, ignoring Fred's warnings that they were gonna wake up the Halloway's if they didn't shut up.

"Serves them right for making enemies crazy enough to kidnap an eighteen-year-old girl."

"Velma you can't get angry, that's not gonna help us find Daphne."

"I can do whatever the hell I want Jones! You know why?! Because these pricks are winning! And they know that we can't do anything to stop them because we have no idea who the fuck they are!"

Shag listened to them argue back and forth like petty children, ironically, it was making him calm down a little.

He focused on them shouting the facts at each other as he stared at the abandoned note. And the pictures that went along with it.

Her face looked totally out of it and scared, her face streaked with tears.

But underneath that glassy look, he saw it.

A fire.

Like a burning, purple star.

She was alive and she was still fighting in the only way she could, with those stars.

So he wasn't gonna stay curled up on the ground while those stars were waiting for him.

Slowly, he reached over and picked up the envelope, reading the hand-written "Harroway" in fancy cursive.

Strange.

He could swear he'd seen that weird looking 'H' before..

After a few seconds his eyes lit up and he stood, ignoring the shaking of his knees, and ran back to the living room.

"Velma, like can you hand me that hiring history sheet on the couch?"

Daphne had grown quite used to taking to herself, finding that leaving her prison silent only left her in tears.

She wasn't exactly sure what she was talking about and whenever she looked back on it, she could remember re-living conversations between her and Shaggy. Not even aware that she remembered them word for word, but the human brain was still very much a mystery.

Right now, for example, she was repeating the exact words Shag had said to her the night he said he loved her.

That was leaving a warm feeling in her chest that made her feel safe, and sane.

Although talking to yourself in a dark room wasn't the sanest of actions, Daph wasn't all there in the head at the moment.

She didn't know how long she had been stuck down here but it had been long enough for her to start seeing things as well as saying things.

The most prominent of them were these huge spider-bunny thingys that liked to watch her from the ceiling.

And then there was her mom walking around in lingerie and asking what was for dinner.

She found herself closing her eyes whenever Shaggy inevitably emerged from the darkness. His face was a little too much for her to bare right now.

But out of all of those, Daph had to admit that the squad of police officers had to be the realest looking things she had seen yet. Maybe those scarecrow dudes had amped up her dosage or something.

It even felt real when they picked her up and began to carry her out of the dark room.

Surprised but just how bright their flashlights were even if it was all in her head.

It even felt like her arms and legs were really untied as she moved them around.

"Maybe I'm dying."

She said.

"You're not dying ma'am, not today."

Said the hallucination helping her stand up.

"If you say so sir."

The men continued to guide her through the corridors and Daph was surprised her mind could invent such a vast network of hallways.

She gasped as they turned left and exited out through a hole in the wall (she'd later realize this was a door) and was met with headlights of all sorts of vehicles pointed her way.

"I always thought I'd go out with a bang."

The hallucination chuckled as it guided her toward the ambulance.

She let out another gasp as she saw a tall, slender figure standing there with a worried look on his face.

Quickly, Daphne closed her eyes before she'd have to see him, that was little too cruel.

Eventually, she felt the cop's hands leave her shoulders and she promptly tripped seeing as her eyes were closed and she could barely stand. Not that it mattered if she fell since she was still stuck to the floor of her cell, she hadn't even moved an inch.

She opened her eyes in surprise when she was enveloped with warmth.

Shaggy's browns eyes met her's and she teared up instantly.

He looked so real and right there.

Even the warmth of his arms around her felt real.

But it was too good to be true.

Not while these lights were still making her head hurt and the siren sounded warbled and distant.

"I- I miss you."

She pressed her forehead to his chest.

"I'm right here Daph.."

She heard his voice crack and he hugged her tighter.

"I wish... I wish I had got to tell you I love you too..."

She was crying harder the more she talked, and the same went for him.

Damn her mind for knowing Shaggy so well.

"You didn't need to tell me then. You didn't have to say it back."

"Yes I did! I wanted to scream it from the roof tops! And now I never can..."

"Never? Daphne you can do it anytime you want. You're not leaving for another two weeks."

"Yeah but nobody is gonna be able to hear me in this cell..."

"Daph... you're not in a cell. You're outside. With me. And it's always gonna be like that."

At that, Daphne pulled away, was her hallucination _really_ gonna start arguing with her now?

She watched his face screw up, as if he was trying to say something, "I - I regret not telling you this as soon as I found out, but I just couldn't believe it would happen to someone like me..."

"What happened?" Daphne asked softy, reaching up to caress his cheek, wanting to see where her brain was gonna take this.

He leaned into her touch and closed his eyes.

"I got invited to study at ICI. A-And Velma's uncle teaches there so h-he's gonna hook me up with scholarships."

"...What?"

"M-My classes start in January..."

"Alright, I'll give credit to myself. That is really damn specific."

"Wh- What? Daph you lost me like three steps ago."

"No, no, you're fine it's just that this is probably the most realistic hallucination I've experience thus far. Maybe I'm dying of an overdose or something, I don't know."

She rested her head against his chest again, just to calm the pounding, only to be surprised by the sound of his heartbeat. It was definitely going faster than normal.

She veered away, taking several steps back before losing her balance again and beginning to fall backwards.

Thankfully, Shaggy was able to grab onto her forearms and pull her back into his chest. He coughed at the impact but was stopped short by her small hands snaking their way up his chest to either side of his face.

Tears were resting in her eyes as she whispered, "Are you real?"

He beamed down at her before leaning down and pressing his lips to her's. He smiled as she let out a relieved sigh against his mouth and let her tangle her hands up in his hair.

Eventually, Velma and Fred had arrived with the Halloways, where Velma demanded they break up their make-out session so they could explain the case.

Turned out, the Halloway's had two different farm hand crews.

One for summer and fall and another for winter and spring.

The reason they weren't able to recognize their culprits, was because they weren't supposed to be at the farm until winter started.

Sure enough the handwriting on the envelope had matched up with the signature of a Kennedy Haresprite. One of the winter/spring crew

Not surprising anyone, Kennedy Haresprite was an alias concocted by two bank robbers from way back in New Orleans where a huge heist had been pulled off nearly five years ago.

The two robbers managed to get away and had the _genius_ plan to hide the money until things calmed down and the look out for the cash's serial numbers was over.

So they buried the money under the Halloway's barn, a week before they bought the farm.

Afraid the Halloways would find the money, the robbers began to work as winter/spring farm-hands.

The season where they could always be in the barn.

Eventually they decided they wanted to move the money, but they couldn't do that unless the Harroways were gone.

A totally stupid and convoluted plan to say the least.

The gang experienced their final meddling kids speech, almost relishing in it.

Daphne had spent the next few days glued to Shaggy's side, which definitely got a little annoying since he needed to sleep and use the bathroom like any other boyfriend.

But eventually Daphne let go of him.

Although Shaggy won't say how he got her to, Daph's big grin usually said it all.

When they got back they announced they'd be moving to New York together, but they both agreed they wouldn't live together. Knowing the only way they could mess this up was by moving too fast and skipping the important steps.

Velma teased them for being prudes but Daph learned that she could shut her up by asking when she was planning on asking Fred out.

Silence had never felt more golden.

On the day they had to fly to New York, Shaggy had received plenty of threats disguised as advice from Daph's endless line of sisters and her surprisingly terrifying father.

Of course Daphne had gotten a threat from her own mother.

"If you hurt this Jolly Green Giant I am going to hunt you down and take away your trust-fund."

Shaggy still loses it whenever Daph brings it up.

Shag had merely gotten a goodbye text from his parents, but her had stated, "That was more than what I expected."

The first few weeks in New York were hard and Daphne hated to say that it lead to her lashing out at Shag even though he didn't deserve it.

Of course, they both knew they'd get into fights eventually.

They were just surprised how big they'd get.

One side would push or pull too far and it would lead to them not speaking for days.

But they'd always work it out somehow.

After all the stuff they'd been through together they knew words were hardly the thing that would make them forget how much they love each other.

Naturally, there was plenty of jealousy, seeing as they went to different schools and had different sets of friends. And it would _always_ end with embarrassment along the lines of, "She's gay Daphne." or, "Shaggy the first time I met that guy he offered me birth control. I think we're good."

It was funny how they had hit all the normal relationship hurdles after thinking they would never have a normal relationship.

And part of that was true.

Daphne still had to talk him through panic attacks, although they were pretty few and far between these days.

Sometimes she'd wake up crying in the middle of the night after dreaming about gunshots. But it didn't take long for her roommates to know that they just needed to call her boyfriend and he'd be there in ten minutes, tops.

Dealing with each other drunk had been a fun adventure.

Daph being overly touchy and loud while Shag experienced sensory overloads.

Needless to say, Shaggy was the official designated driver of the two.

Not that they could drive in New York anyway.

And I know you're wondering it so I'll say it.

Yes they did get married, and a _lot_ sooner than you'd expect.

There were two separate proposals since the first one didn't work out. The first one happening a few weeks after Daphne's 21st birthday.

Fred had told Daph via video chat that while Shag was walking her dorm after the birthday party, she had jumped onto his back and told him to carry them both to the horizon.

"As soon as you said that you passed out on his shoulder and said you loved your Jolly Green Giant. He went out and bought a ring the next day."

But once he had the ring, he tried to propose by baking it in a batch of brownies, his brownies just so happening to be her favorite food in the universe.

What he wasn't expecting was for her to inhale the whole dish, ring and all.

So his proposal turned into him just staring at her in horror, not really sure if he should tell her she just ate a $5000.00 ring.

The second time was thanks to Daphne's impatience and her unawareness of proposal numero uno.

She had gotten the brilliant idea after complaining to Velma over the phone that they had been dating for almost five years and Shag hadn't even mentioned the idea of getting engaged.

So Velma dropped her wise input, "Bitch if you wanna chain him down so bad then propose yourself!"

She then hung up on her.

Daph had pulled out all the stops, fancy restaurant, serenaded by a hot guy with a violin and a walk through Central Park.

She had everything planned down to the second and oh my Lord she had never been more nervous in her life. Especially since he looked even more beautiful than normal that day.

What poor Daphne had not planned was the dumbass who snatched her purse.

And snatching Daphne Blake's purse is not an act committed by smart men.

She chased that poor man all the way to a bridge where she wrestled him to the ground.

With that new adrenaline pumping through her and getting an ego boost from the applause, she marched back down to where Shaggy was standing, currently on the phone with the police.

Not even waiting for him to hang up she said, "You wanna get married?"

Shag's jaw dropped and his phone fell from his grip.

She winced at the sound of it cracking but his eyes were still on her.

Suddenly, she regretted just blurting it out instead of waiting for the moon to shine into the duck pond next to them, setting the perfect proposing vibe.

But then that shaggy boy of her's kissed her so hard that the wind was knocked straight from her lungs.

And you better believe that purple girl kissed her shaggy boy back


End file.
